Fate: Shattered Moon
by Trick N. Zwei
Summary: Near the conclusion of the events of Heaven's Feel, the attempted destruction of the Great Holy Grail causes an unforeseen outcome that has led Shirou, Rin, Sakura, Illya and the servant Rider to be transported to a different dimension. How will they fare in a world filled with Grimm, Dust and Hunters?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 **This is my first story I have EVER written. Please make constructive criticism based on knowing that fact. Also, I make no claims in advance to being a nasuverse sage, therefore I have limited knowledge of it from reading other fanfictions. Same thing with RWBY.**

* * *

The headmaster of Beacon Academy sat behind his office desk, a mug in his right hand and his scroll on the other. A closer look at his expression denotes curiosity and a slight unease as he gazes at the scroll in his hand.

"Still looking over the initiation from earlier today, I see."

A light-blonde haired woman was walking towards him, her hand adjusting her glasses as she narrowed her bright green eyes at the video playing their students' earlier performance.

"Yes. I am a bit rather concerned at some of the unexpected amount of surprises that appeared at this year's initiation," Ozpin said to the woman.

Glynda Goodwitch had a good number of ideas as to what the headmaster was referring to.

"I take it you're not just entertaining yourself watching some of our unorthodox students' antics during the test," she replied with a small smile.

Ozpin shook his head and took a sip from his mug.

"While some of our initiates did have a rough start in the beginning, I believe that this year's batch of future huntsmen and huntress have performed quite exemplary," he stated as he put his drink down on his desk.

"I see," she nodded in response and in a more serious tone asked, "So it is the Grimm that bothers you?"

He frowned slightly.

"Yes," he admitted, "While the nature of our test can prove deadly to unprepared students, the Grimm in the area are usually of the common weaker variants that most of our testers are familiar fighting with."

"Hmmm…the appearance of that large Nevermore was indeed a bit sudden," the Huntress said in a contemplative voice.

"Not counting the Death Stalker and King Taijitu that we saw as well." added Ozpin. "That Death Stalker had been lying dormant in that cave for a very long time, and I doubt it would have been woken quite so easily just by the students stumbling inside."

"True," Glynda voiced softly, "It is not as if there has been any conflict in the area before that would have elicited such a reaction from the Grimm."

"Indeed," the headmaster agreed, "The amount of negative energy to form a response like that from the Grimm would certainly be something we would not have missed, and last I checked, there had been no gruesome battles inside the forest."

A short silence between the two occurred as each continued to ponder the strange occurrence.

"Well," started Glynda, "I believe we've occupied enough of our time with this odd event. But curious as it is, it does not change the fact that starting tomorrow, we will have a new batch of students to train and guide into the path of Huntsmen and Huntresses."

Headmaster Ozpin nodded and replied, "I suppose you are correct. We will indeed need to be well rested to give our full attention to our new students."

The Huntress smiled at Ozpin.

"Given how well our students fought today, I suppose whatever problems we have in the future with Grimm will eventually involve them, so it would be best for us to prepare them for it as much as possible."

As the stern Huntress leaves the room, Ozpin sighs as he looks at the shattered moon from his window.

'I wonder? Is there a good reason for what just happened or am I just overthinking things?' he mused to himself. 'Whatever the case, looks like things are shaping up to be an… interesting year.'

* * *

Illyasviel von Einzbern was distraught at how the events of the Holy Grail War came to this. She was wearing the Dress of Heaven as she came upon the figure of her adopted brother, Shirou who was struggling to stay on his feet while holding a majestic sword with both hands as he faced the Great Holy Grail.

Both of them had gone through much ordeal to get where they are now. Her presumed abandonment of her father had caused the young Einzbern to initially hate the adopted son of Kiritsugu Emiya. But after learning more about him and finding out the truth about their father, she could not help but let go of her hate and become attached to the only family member she had left who actually cared for her well-being.

As she approached him, the petite homunculus could hear the conversation between him and the three women next to him.

"All of you need to leave right now before I destroy the Holy Grail!" the red haired teen said with a stern expression towards his female companions.

A girl with long wavy black hair that was styled in twin-tails tied with black ribbons can be seen showing an irritated expression towards the only male present.

"If you destroy it, the likely outcome will definitely be your death, you stupid blockhead!" said by an exasperated Rin Tohsaka.

"Please. _Please!_ Don't do this senpai. There has to be another way," pleaded Sakura Matou, who was leaning on the shoulder of Rider, her ever loyal Servant.

Slowly moving closer to the group, Illya could see the sad smile on Shirou's face as he tells them, "I'm sorry, but this is the only way."

Illya froze at his words.

Thoughts of the short time they spent together dominated her mind.

"No…" she muttered.

Everyone finally noticed the Einzbern magus who had appeared a few paces behind them.

"Illya...," Shirou said softly as he directed a small smile towards her, intent on convincing her to leave.

"NO! No, I won't! I won't allow Oniichan to die!" she screamed.

Dread and panic began to well up inside her as she looked around the cave where the ritual that materialized the Holy Grail is taking place.

She quickly noticed something on the ground near her and grabbed it.

"If the Holy Grail just needs to disappear, then I will just destroy it myself!"

Shirou and the rest realized that Illya was now holding the Jeweled Sword of Zelretch.

The small white-haired magus began channeling magical energy into the blade.

"Illya! Don't-" Shirou began, but was cut off as the girl had unleashed a blinding stream of light from the sword she swung towards the corrupted grail.

The attack collided with its intended target and in a moment, detonated in a sudden flash of bright white light that engulfed the entire cave and its occupants.

* * *

"Uuuhhgg…" groaned Shirou, who was currently lying face down on the cold ground.

"Wha-what just happened" he managed to say as he placed a hand on the ground to push himself up and fell into a sitting position.

He looked at his surroundings while placing his left… No, Archer's left hand on the back of his head. It looked like he was near the edge of a small clearing surrounded by trees and shrubs all around him. The cool breeze pressing on his body was enough for him to confirm that he at least wasn't dead yet. To his left, he noticed Rider is holding the body of a girl with violet hair in her arms.

A sudden cold feeling in his stomach appeared as his eyes locked on at Sakura's unmoving figure.

Noticing the boy's thoughts, "My master is fine," said the last surviving Servant, "She is only unconscious and you need not fear for her health."

A relieved breath escaped Shirou's mouth at that statement.

"So, I don't suppose any of you know what in the world just happened to us?" came a voice from behind him.

Turning to look at the source, the image of a slightly disoriented and disgruntled Rin Tohsaka came into view.

"I know I was trying to destroy the Grail but then…" Shirou's eyes widened at the memory of the previous event, "Illya! Where's Illya?!" Panic threatened to consume him as he thought of what consequences might have befallen the little girl.

"Not so loud Shirou," said the girl in question, "Uuuuhh..., I don't feel so good."

From a shrub, they could make out the small prone figure of Illyasviel von Einzbern clutching her head meekly with both her hands.

"Thank goodness, you're okay," Shirou sighed in relief.

"That's funny, because I don't feel okay," sarcastically claimed by Illya, whilst slowly getting on her feet.

"Walk it off," commanded Rin who by then was now analyzing their current predicament, "For now, we have to find someplace to rest and get our bearings straight."

Shirou found himself smiling somewhat at how quickly the Tohsaka heiress was taking charge despite the oddity of the situation. It should be something he should have expected by now from the harsh but kind-hearted girl.

"I agree with Miss Tohsaka," replied the rarely talkative Rider, "While I believe my master's health is in no danger, finding a safe place for her to regain consciousness would be best."

It was understandable that the experience would have left them somewhat clouded in their thoughts, as they struggled with the mental and physical strain of just what happened to them. Not to mention Sakura's present condition, Archer's left arm was now slightly throbbing with pain that seems to be causing him some difficulty in moving it.

The boy took a breath and said, "Okay then, we need to-"

* **WAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarRrRkk!** *

"That does not sound good," stated Rin.

Rider stands up with Sakura in her arms and turns her blindfolded eyes towards a section of the forest.

"I can sense something approaching," she claimed as displeasure was shown on the visible features of her face.

The twin-tailed magus responded in a sarcastic voice, "Yeah, we kind of got that part from the roar just now."

The Servant shook her head and said "Not that one. I believe there are about a dozen or so creatures coming towards us from the forest."

Saying the present situation is bad would be an understatement at this point. Now, whenever things go bad, people tend to think it can't get any worse. Whoever among them thought of that would silently curse in their mind as they see a giant raven like creature with a white mask on its face and ominous red eyes, flying at their direction in great haste.

"Rin, please protect my master while I handle this beast," requested Rider as she carefully hands over Sakura and afterwards, promptly jumps into a treetop.

The blindfolded servant materializes her Nameless Dagger, and throws the nail like weapon towards the approaching form of the giant flying raven. It sails through the sky swiftly, with its chain attached to the handle of the dagger.

Screeching, the creature felt the dagger impale onto its neck, and quickly tries to fly away, unknowingly pulling Rider along with it into the air, who was still gripping onto her weapon's chain.

Meanwhile on the ground, the group of magi prepare to confront the steady approaching footsteps of the earlier detected beasts.

"Trace on."

Shirou projected Kanshou and Bakuya into his hands. The presence of the married twin swords that represent yin and yang felt slightly heavy in his hands as he tightened his grip on them.

"Tohsaka. Illya. Stand back and keep an eye on Sakura!" he exclaimed to the two, who both gave an understanding nod and kept a fair distance behind him.

The footsteps grew louder and out of a dense portion of trees came three bipedal human-sized creatures. They resembled a lot like the werewolves that Shirou had known to actually exist. The appearance of werewolves didn't match what were in front of him. The head of these creatures appear to have a white skull-like mask on and the bone looking protrusions along their backs and arms.

Maybe if he tried to communicate with them they might be able to get away without having to fight. Thinking this, Shirou moved slightly forward to try and see if he can talk to them when he heard Rin whisper a warning towards him.

"Be careful Shirou," Rin said looking at the full forms of the wolf creatures, "I don't think they are the same kind of werewolves that I know of," she was looking over their features with a critical eye.

True enough because as soon as the creatures noticed their presence, they let out a vicious howl and charged headlong towards them with their claws outstretched.

Shirou poured prana into his body and began reinforcing it, which greatly boosted his strength and speed. He stood his ground and prepared his stance to mimic Archer's unique style of combat.

The leading wolf monster tried to claw him at his exposed flank, but was easily avoided and Bakuya came down swiftly to cut off its head. The second monster aimed a clawed swipe that missed, a moment too late, as Shirou shoved Kanshou into its open mouth and out the back of its head. Finally, the last of the three had lunged toward him. With the grace of a matador facing a charging bull, he spun out of its way, only to stop suddenly clutching his arm because of the throbbing pain running through it, which caused him to drop Bakuya.

"Damn!"

Seeing its chance, the last creature made another lunge with its jaws wide open for a lethal bite towards his head.

A small flash of dark red blast hit the monster in its chest left it stunned for a moment before one more of the same blast hit it right between the eyes. Smoke and the smell of burnt fur rose from the places where the attacks had hit it as it fell down, dead.

"I just told you to be careful Shirou," said Rin who was currently standing and shouldering Sakura and had her fingers pointed at the creature she killed, "Must I really be the one to always keep you out of trouble?"

"Thanks, Tohsaka," the red-headed teen replied with a slightly pained smile as he moved to pick up the sword he dropped.

"Is your arm acting up, Shirou?" worried Illya who walked towards him from behind Rin.

"I'll be fine, it will take more than just this to take me down."

The sounds of multiple footsteps and rustling through the shrubs could be heard as the more of the same creatures they just killed appeared before them.

"You damn stupid blockhead," hissed Rin, "definitely, you were asking for this!"

He really couldn't deny the accusation, as there was now a dozen more of the monsters for them to fight. If they were in better condition, this small amount of enemies wouldn't even be enough to make a single one of any of the three magi break a sweat.

Unfortunately, such was not the case. Their previous battle at the cavern had left all of them all drained and exhausted. Even being able to project Kanshou and Bakuya had used up most of his remaining strength.

All the wolf monsters howled into the air at once and started to prepare their assault on the wounded and exhausted prey before them. However, a large bird's shriek above them caused everyone to pause and look at the source.

Large black feathers rained down upon the monsters, each like a black blade that sliced through bone and dark fur of the creatures it had hit. Whimpers and short howls of pain slowly turned to silence as the barrage of deadly feathers subsided.

Only four of the wolf-like monsters remained standing, growling ferociously at what attacked them, only to be promptly squashed under the overly large raven's weight upon its heavy descent to the ground.

"Is everyone alright?"

For a moment, the participants of the Holy Grail War thought the bird in front of them had started talking, before they took notice of the buxom beauty sitting on top of the avian's neck, who was using her chains as a rein.

"Just peachy," deadpanned Rin.

Illya moved in closer to inspect the monster. She looked over the creature carefully, amazed its size.

"Huh, I almost completely forgot about the riding ability of the Rider class."

"Well, to be fair, there really wasn't much opportunity for her class to show its worth in modern day Japan," commented Shirou. Short of military heavy weapons vehicles, he didn't really think Rider could have used that ability to their advantage against any of the other Servants in the war.

He observed the giant raven, noticing some similarities of its physical appearance with the wolf like creatures they just fought.

'Red eyes and bone masks?' he noted. 'It feels different yet similar to Caster's constructs, is it not alive? No... , it just seems _empty_ somehow.'

Rider tightened the chains around the creature's neck and leaned in close to whisper her command.

"For helping me save my comrades, I will let you live. Now go, find some other prey before I change my mind."

The creature needed no further encouragement because once Rider released her chains, it quickly flew away from them.

"Finally, a chance to get my breath back," exasperated Rin who was now sitting on the ground, her back to a tree along with a still unconscious Sakura by her side.

With that statement, everyone else visibly relaxed as the tense atmosphere of battle finally began to dissipate.

"Hey Rider, did you by chance get a good look around while you were flying up there?" asked Illya, her head angled up looking at the Servant.

"Yes," replied Rider. "I believe I saw an aircraft of some sort flying in from west of our current position."

This bit of news came as a good thing for everyone. It means at least that there were people close by. Should they choose to do so, they could just head towards the direction where the aircraft came from to find someplace safe and maybe get their heads around what just happened to them once they were properly rested.

Shirou decided to take charge and said, "Okay, we'll rest up for a couple of minutes and then head out towards the direction Rider pointed. Is everyone good with that?"

Everyone replied with their confirmation at his question except for Illya, who he noticed was currently gazing at the sky.

"Illya?" he asked in a worried voice.

The little magus had her jaw down and then replied, "Oniichan, why is the moon broken?"

That question puzzled him and everyone else as they turned their sights towards the sky to see just what Illya was talking about.

Above them shone the bright light and shape of the full moon, except a portion of it was shattered and broken.

"Looks like things just got a lot more complicated for us," said Rin.

Everyone could only nod at her assessment.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **It took me a hell of a long time to finish this and it barely reached 3,000 words. I can't be frustrated at other authors for being slow in their updates now (Ravoleck, where art though?).**

 **I've got the whole story for this planned out, so a plot and an ending has already been decided but may be subject to change.  
**

 **Next chapter will take a while. I really want to finish RWBY and Fate (the old one and UBW) first. Plus I kinda want to wait and see until volume 3 comes out, but that doesn't really matter as much since the next planned chapters won't really be affected story-wise.**

 **P.S.**

 **I forgot that I've changed the rating now and the story shall now continue without an M rating until I actually write something that would warrant it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter has been edited with corrections.**

* * *

Rin Tohsaka; Magus, Former Master, Jewel magecraft user, and heiress to one of the founding families that created the Heaven's Feel ritual, was currently hiking through a forest. Yes, a forest..., one filled with deadly unknown creatures that want nothing more than to tear her to shreds, black ribbons, twin-tailed hair and all. Apparently, that wasn't even the worse of it.

Staring once more at the shattered moon above her, she let out a heavy sigh.

"Really, it's just one thing after another."

She thought that at least she wasn't stranded all alone in a foreign world. The talented magus looked behind her to see the forms of her companions. Illya was moving carefully to avoid tripping on roots or rocks hidden in the foliage, while Shirou was moving at a slightly slower pace because he had to guide and help Sakura, who had finally woken up but was still feeling a bit sluggish.

It was understandable, considering that Sakura had been about to give birth to Avenger, 'all the evils of the world.' There was also the severe emotional distress that she had experienced under its influence. Truly understandable, except-

"Ahh~!"

Sakura had her foot catch on a fallen tree branch. She almost tripped had Shirou not caught her in time.

"It's okay, I'm here for you," said the concerned boy.

They were both tightly grasping on to each other's arms. Sakura was blushing and looking away from the red-head's face. Noticing this, Shirou showed a blush of his own and both of them quickly tried to regain their composure, unable to look at each other's faces.

Rin saw all of this and you could make out a visible vein on her temple that was throbbing at the current display of emotions. 'This guy! I'm glad you have time to flirt around with my sister while were trying hard to get out of this forest alive,' she thought loudly to herself.

In all honesty, the Tohsaka heiress was feeling bit jealous at the two. She was happy for Sakura being able to be with Shirou after all the painful experiences she had been through, but Rin also felt a pang of longing to be with the boy as well. She had grown close with him through the course of the Holy Grail War together and could still feel her heart beat just a little faster every time she looked at the blockhead's face.

Sakura noticed her older sister's gaze.

"Is something wrong, Neesan?"

"N-no! Nothing at all!" quickly stammered Rin, "I was just wondering if it's okay for you to move around since you were unconscious just a while ago."

The younger girl gave a reassuring smile at her sister and answered, "I'll be fine, Neesan. It wouldn't do for me to rest while everyone else is trying their best."

"I-I see. But just make sure not to push yourself too much, okay?" Rin said so as she starts walking forward at a more brisk pace.

Sakura kept staring with a curious look at her sister's back as the Tohsaka magus continued to walk a little bit further ahead.

'She'll definitely be happy with Shirou,' thought Rin, 'Even if it means I can't be with him, I'm just glad to have my only family back.' The stubborn girl seemed steadfast in her decision, but still felt a hint of loneliness. She decided to check up on Rider who was moving slightly ahead of the group in order to clear the way of the same deadly creatures they kept encountering every now and then.

As she was walking to catch up to the quick Servant, the littered bodies of multiple monsters can be seen dissipating on the forest ground. The magus can't help feeling curious at the sight of the creatures that keep trying to attack them. It was hard to study them properly since they have little time right now, but seeing as they can't really stop the bodies from slowly disintegrating, dissecting them seems like a pretty far-fetched idea for now.

There was also the problem with the moon. Rin was wondering what on earth could have happened that would cause the moon to be like that. Briefly, the image of an eccentric old Wizard Marshall came into mind. 'That blasted wrinkled old vampire better not have fought with the Crimson Moon again,' she sighed inwardly. Considering the mystic code responsible for destroying the Holy Grail was created from the plans the Kaleidoscope left her family, it wouldn't really surprise her if the weird magus had a hand in their current environment.

She stopped to find that Rider was standing a few feet away and just staring at her, or what she assumed was staring, since she can't really tell with the Servant's blindfold on. Although she knew that Rider was utterly loyal to Sakura, it didn't really make it any easier to tell to read the usually emotionless Servant.

"What?" the irritated magus asked.

Rider was silent for a moment before replying, "That was quite the face you were making. Just what was it that you were thinking about?"

"Hmph, I was just recalling someone unpleasant."

The buxom Servant shook her head, "I meant when you were looking at Sakura and Shirou."

A flush of red cheeks appeared on Rin's face before she answered in a frustrated manner, "I-I wasn't making any face at all! The fact that you were in front of us the entire time notwithstanding, how are you even able to see my face at all with that blindfold on?!"

"I can actually perceive the world around me through hearing, touch, smell, and magic-detection. It allows me a better perception of my surroundings rather than relying on vision alone," stated Rider. "Maybe you should take some time to talk with your sister, now that both of you have reconciled."

"You don't need to tell me that!" trying to change the subject, Rin hastily said, "Anyways, we have more important matters to deal with right now. So are we getting closer to getting out of this forest?"

Finding no further need to pry, Rider said, "Yes, I can feel the presence of a large concentration of people. Based on the number, I think we may be headed towards a city."

True to her word. Both Master and Servant arrived shortly at the edge of the forest with a view of large coastal city of modern design.

"Finally!" smiled Rin, "We can find a nice place to stay while I work on figuring out just where the Grail sent us."

"Are we there yet?" came a tired question from the small homunculus that just now emerged from the forest. She was followed shortly by the two lovey-dovey teens behind her.

"You should really stick close to us, Illya. We know don't know how many other dangerous creatures are out here," said Shirou.

Illya was actually trying to maintain her distance from the two couple. She really didn't want to stand too close to them and get pulled into a world of their own from all the embarrassing and awkward conversations they were having.

"Hey, looks like we finally found civilization at last," answered Rin to the latecomers.

Shirou reinforced his eyes to observe the city. "It looks normal enough, except I don't really recognize where this place is. Well, I guess we can figure all of that after… we…"

Everyone was waiting for the red-haired magus to finish his suggestion but it never came.

"Oi, Shirou. What were you saying?" asked Rin.

The boy stood still with his brow furrowed in thought, as he continues to view the city in front of him.

"Hey, Rin, I know we magi aren't the best when it comes to technology," mentioned Shirou, "but I'd like to think that I would still recognize something like THAT when it comes down to it."

Rin and everyone turned to look at just what Shirou was pointing to. In the distance, flying slightly above the city, a futuristic looking airship was there. They could clearly see the wings of the ship flipping up and down as it casually glided through the air.

"Oookay... maybe we ended up in America and they just invented a new kind of plane that we are seeing for the very first time?" answered the twin-tailed magus doubtfully.

* * *

"Yeah, we are definitely not in America," said a sulking Rin.

The surviving members of the Holy Grail War were gathered and holed up inside a modest house, courtesy of a hypnotized local old man. Shirou was sitting in the middle of a couch with Illya on his lap, while Sakura and Rider each occupied a space beside him. Rin was currently pacing back and forth in front of them.

"Awww… I was hoping we could tour sunny California," said Illya.

"Uhhmm…" Sakura had her hand raised. "Neesan, does that mean we won't be able to get home soon?"

The jewelcraft user just sighed, "Unfortunately, It's a lot worse than that. I've asked our current esteemed host about where we are, and every place he mentioned doesn't ring a bell for me. Either my geography skills have completely failed me or I think we may have been sent to a dimension far different from ours."

Silence claimed the room as everyone contemplated what was just said.

"Is there any way we can get back?" asked Shirou.

"There may be a way for us to do so. I have an idea on how to get us all back, but I'll need to test it out first." Rin had stopped to stand still and continued to say, "The problem is, I'm not exactly sure it _will_ work, and we'll need to do this quickly before our connection to our own world completely disappears. The lingering energy from the destroyed Holy Grail won't last much longer than a few more days at best, so it would be best for us to start the test tomorrow after we're good and rested."

"Uhhh… what do you mean by _us,_ Rin?" Shirou asked with a confused look on his face.

"Isn't it obvious? I need you and Illya's help with the plans I have tomorrow."

"You need our help?" both Illya and Shirou questioned at the same time while pointing blankly at themselves.

"Yeah," Rin smiled deviously at them. "How else am I supposed to conduct my test without the proper _tools_?"

The two guinea pigs began to shiver in fear whilst hugging each other closely as the demonic magus in front of them started to make a soft snickering laughter to herself.

"S-save me, Oniichan," cried Illya. "I don't want to be sacrificed."

"I think it may be best if we split up for now then." Rider, who had remained silent the entire time, interrupted the scary conversation. "Sakura and I don't seem to be needed for this test so we will remain here for the time being. Some more time for her to recuperate would put me more at ease."

"Mou! I already told you I'm fine, Rider," pouted Sakura.

Rider shook her head in disagreement. "Whatever happened may have affected you more than the rest of us. I need not mention that you were about to unleash Avenger upon the world not more than a day past. I just want to make sure that you're perfectly alright."

"She's right, Sakura," agreed Rin. "We're going to have do the test near the outskirts of the city to avoid being noticed by the people here, and I don't like the idea of you being too close to those monsters we saw earlier. No, it's better if you stay here for now."

Sakura looked quite forlorn at their statement. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes and it looked like she was about to cry.

Seeing this, Rin and Rider looked a bit panicked as they didn't know what to do. Fortunately, a kind-hearted remark from Sakura's senpai saved the two.

"That's good! At least we'll have a nice meal to look forward to once we get back," exclaimed Shirou. "I feel like it's been ages since I've had Sakura's delicious cooking."

The shy girl's face quickly lit up at the comment. "Y-yes! I'll do my best!"

The two panicked women sighed in relief.

"Oh! But I'll need to go out and get more food tomorrow then," pointed out Sakura.

"That's fine, there should be no problems with that as long as Rider goes with you," said Rin in a defeated tone. "But make sure to bring Mr. Chen with you. You can ask him to show you were to go and he can just pay for all of it since we don't have any money of our own."

"I don't think we should just use poor Mr. Chen's money like that. He's already letting us stay at his home, and I feel like any more than that would be too much," worried Sakura.

"We don't really have much of a choice right now. Besides, we'll make sure to pay him back once were ready to go home," reassured Rin. "It's not like I can use the currency here when we get back home."

That last sentence from the stingy magus made everyone chuckle awkwardly. Some weren't entirely sure she was being serious, while the others were pretty sure she'd take the money with them if she could use it.

"Now then," said Rin as she clapped her hands in finality. "Everyone should head off to bed and get plenty of rest. We all have a big day tomorrow after all."

The entire group agreed and decided to end their strategy meeting of the night.

* * *

The sun was high and bright in the sky, and the air was cool, as two teens and a small child was walking down the street towards the edge of the city of Vale. One of the teens, a slightly short male red-head, had an expression of disbelief on his face as their group continued on their path.

"Really, Tohsaka...," Shirou sighed, "Weren't you saying just last night that today was important and that we do your test as soon as possible?"

The teenage girl with him was avoiding his gaze and looked somewhat embarrassed. "I-It's not my fault I overslept! After everything we've been through, it's only natural that I felt completely exhausted. What's wrong with sleeping in a little?!"

"No, I can understand that. It's just that… I wouldn't call it sleeping in a little when you woke up past lunch time," stated the boy. "Even Illya woke up earlier than you."

"Hehehe! It's because I'm a better magus!" proclaimed the white-haired mini-magus.

"Being a better magus has nothing to do with this!" argued Rin. "I just felt like staying in a warm bed for a while."

"Hoh, so you're saying you were just being lazy," countered Illya.

Rin looked surprisingly guilty at the accusation.

"I guess its fine," said Shirou, "I suppose we still have plenty of time to do what we have to do."

The slacker magus was glad that their topic of her laziness can be put on hold. "Yeah, one of those abandoned buildings over there should do nicely for what I have in mind."

At the group's destination, a small empty house that looked like it hadn't been used in years, stood before them. Some of the windows were shattered but everything else looked to be in okay condition.

"Illya, can you set up a bounded field around the building so no one can hear us," said Rin.

The little girl agreed and left to work on her task, while Rin, along with Shirou, also started on preparing a magic circle inside the center of the house.

"So what exactly am I supposed to be doing here, Rin?" questioned Shirou.

Rin, who was kneeling on the floor etching the circle, answered, "Well, the first thing I need you to do is to project the Jeweled Sword of Zeltretch again."

"I see, so that's why Illya is here as well."

Nodding her head in agreement, Rin continued to say, "The second is to act as a magnet to pull us into the right dimension."

"Huh?" the red-head asked confusedly. "How am I supposed to do that? I'm already pretty useless with regular magecraft, and what you're basically asking me is on the level of Sorceries. That just seems pretty impossible for a third-rate magus like me."

"It's true, you're skills in magecraft are sorely lacking-," agreed Rin to a frowning Shirou, "but that's not really what I need you for. It's your arm that I need. Archer's arm to be precise. His presence in the Throne of Heroes should act as an anchor to our own dimension so we don't end up in a parallel dimension of this one."

"Parallel dimension? Wait, I don't get it. Are you saying that this world is not a parallel dimension?"

"Yes," said Rin, as she continues to work on the magic circle, "based on what I've learned about the geography of this world, I can surmise that, aside from basic environment and the presence of humans, everything else about this dimension is different from ours. In parallel dimensions, there may be slight variations where history, countries, and even people can be different. But in the end, you end up in a world much similar to your own, where you can also have a version of yourself in it. Essentially, that is how the Second Magic is supposed to work, travel between parallel dimensions."

The lecturing magus took a moment to take a breath before continuing, "In this world, I found nothing that would indicate this place to be a parallel version of our own world. There are just too many things different here. You can look up at the sky and tell that even the stars aren't the same as ours."

Shirou was scratching his head trying to get a grip at the explanation.

"But then, how were we able to get here in the first place?"

Rin finally stood up from her preparations and faced the confused magus. "The Jeweled Sword uses the Multi-Dimensional Refraction Phenomenon, which is a fragment of the Second Magic that allows the ability to create openings in parallel universes, albeit small openings not big enough for humans. I can only guess that when Illya used the sword against the Grail, the ability mixed with the corrupted Grail's magical energy that, not only enlarged the opening, but connected to a completely different dimension."

"I see," said an impressed looking Shirou, "thinking of all of this, you really are amazing, Tohsaka."

Blushing, Rin said loudly, "I-Idiot! This much is nothing really, and besides, I'm only operating on pure theory right now! I could be utterly wrong and this whole thing and could just blow up in our faces again."

"It's okay," comforted Shirou, "I trust you. If there's anyone who can do this, it would be you." His smiling face showed just how sincere he was of his words.

The completely serious look the boy gave her caused Rin to face the other way to hide her face, which was now flushing red to her ears. She proceeded to concentrate on completing her magic circle to avoid any more embarrassment on her part.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another part of the city. Sakura Matou was currently walking back home after a serious bout of grocery shopping.

"My, my, Sakura," said an elderly gentleman beside her. "You certainly know your way around the grocery store."

Sakura smiled and said, "Thank you, Mr. Chen. It's nothing really, I'm used to cooking meals at home, and knowing what food to buy comes naturally along with it."

"…Still, I've never seen someone so serious about picking the right mushrooms before," replied the old man.

"That's because everyone is looking forward to a good meal tonight and I want everything to be just perfect," she claimed.

Mr. Chen narrowed his gaze at her.

"Really now? Are you sure it's not because of a certain red-headed young man?" he answered slyly.

Sakura's face turned as red as the hair of said young man.

"Hahaha! It's okay, young lady. No need to get so embarrassed. There's nothing wrong with being in love," teased Mr. Chen.

The two continued on their walk whilst holding on to their groceries, one of them unaware of the shadow trailing them from the roofs above, which had been following them closely since the beginning of their shopping.

 _"I'm sorry I can't to be by your side, Master,"_ said Rider through their mental connection. _"Being unable to switch to my spiritual form…"_

 _"It's alright, Rider,"_ answered Sakura, as she continues walking without any hint of speaking _, "You mustn't blame yourself for it. After all, everyone else turned out fine in the end, and at the very least it's only your body that can't shift. I'm just glad that you're here with me right now."_

The sultry Servant couldn't help but smile to herself at her Master's kindness. She would protect the young girl till the very end. This, she swore once more in her heart.

Rider observed her charge and the hypnotized old man stopping, it seems the two were curiously looking into a van parked haphazardly on the street they were on.

The van had its side door wide open. It was parked just outside of a shop named "Dusts and Dreams."

Sakura was puzzled why someone would leave their parked car open, when sounds of breaking glass came from the shop behind her. She could hear someone inside talking loudly and quickly.

"I thought I told you to stay in the van! This is why I hate working with amateurs," came an angry voice.

"Well, I thought if I helped, we would finish faster," retorted a different voice.

"You're supposed to be the getaway driver! So you know… we can get away quickly!"

"Okay, jeez, lighten up will ya."

Six people came out of the shop, five of them wearing similar looking masks. The sixth had no mask on, preferring to only cover his right eye with the long bangs of his orange hair. His clothing was completely different from the uniform look of his companions, a bowler hat on his head being one of the most prominent.

The group of criminals seems to have finally noticed the pair of civilians that were in the way of their getaway van.

Mr. Chen stood in front of Sakura and confronted the Dust thieves.

"Are you people stealing from that shop?!"

"Of course not!" answered the gentlemanly looking criminal, "We just got a bit carried away with our shopping here. There sale was too much of a steal to pass up," he smiled. "Now be a good little grandpa and get out of our way so we can continue on our merry little shopping spree."

"Not until you return what you stole," answered Mr. Chen, resolutely.

"I don't think you know who I am grampa, so let me enlighten you. I'm Roman Torchwick, wanted criminal and all around bad guy. Now either move out of our way or get ready for a world of hurt."

The threat did little to dissuade the stubborn geezer, as he made no motion of doing what was ordered of him.

Finally, one of the masked men moved forward and punched the determined old man in the stomach, knocking him out.

"You really should've just listened to him, you old coot," said the goon.

The masked man looked at Sakura and said, "Move aside kid, before I-"

The rattling of chains could be heard, as the thug was yanked back strongly and caused him to hit the building's wall. Sounds of his painful groaning could be heard clearly by the people present.

"What the hell?!" yelped one of the man's comrade.

"You'll not threaten my Master," stated Rider, who was now behind the criminals with two more of their smaller members down on the ground, unconscious next to her.

The sudden appearance of a blindfolded sensual beauty, surprised Roman and his two remaining crew. The fact that the attractive woman in front of them, also held two very menacing looking spikes with chains in each hand, also contributed greatly to their short bewilderment.

Quickly snapping out of his momentary daze, Roman said to his remaining henchmen, "Well? What are you two waiting for, an invitation? Go get her!"

His two flunkies dashed towards Rider, swords out and ready to use them.

The Servant merely stood in place as she waited until their blades were only a few inches from her head, before her form flickered in a burst of movement that sent the two would be attackers back near their leader, who just stood there unable to comprehend just what happened.

Rider started casually walking towards the last standing criminal.

With the last of his two henchmen down, Roman knew that the situation was getting worse for him, so he decided to stall for time.

"Now, now, let's not be too hasty here," he said, as he raised his arms up in mock surrender, one hand still holding on to his cane.

He let out his best charming smile, and then quickly aimed the end of his cane at the approaching Servant, intent on attacking her. He soon realized that his target was gone, only to appear inches away, right in front of him.

The blindfolded woman sent Roman flying with a kick to his stomach, sending the man straight into his getaway van's side door, denting it.

"Looks like… I was…a little too hasty," he grunted before passing out.

"Are you alright, Sakura?" inquired Rider.

The girl in question was kneeling beside Mr. Chen, checking to see if he was okay. "Yes, I'm fine," she replied. "But I think Mr. Chen won't be waking up too soon."

All of a sudden, an alarm started blazing from the shop that Roman and his lackeys had robbed.

"Oh no! The police will be here soon," said Sakura, "We have to go, Rider. Neesan said we're not supposed to attract any attention."

"Sakura," answered Rider, "How should we deal with these thieves?" a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

Sakura knew what she meant. The rules for the Holy Grail War was for Masters and Servants to eliminate all outside witnesses. The same rule is also strictly held on to by the Mage Association, and gives no quarter to any people from the normal world, should they witness acts of magecraft. She understood this, but she was still reluctant to acknowledge it.

The young girl decided to think about it later and said, "Please put everyone in the van. We'll decide what to do later, once everyone else gets back."

Her Servant nodded, understanding her hesitation in forming a quick answer.

In less than a minute, Roman, his crew, and Mr. Chen were all piled up inside the back of the getaway van. Rider was in the driver's seat and Sakura on the passenger side. The packed vehicle was speeding through the road, headed for their temporary safe house.

* * *

"There! That should be good enough."

Rin Tohsaka stood up proudly and examined the finished magic circle she had been working on. It took her considerable less time to finish than she had anticipated, but she was sure she had done everything correctly.

"Hey, Rin, are you sure this test of yours will work alright?"

Illya, who had long finished setting up her task, was looking dubiously at the completed magic circle.

"No need to worry. We're just going to check if there is any connection at all with our dimension. We won't be using the Jeweled Sword to travel to our dimension just yet. Not until I've made sure that this could actually work, and not without Sakura and Rider with us as well."

Rin takes out a dagger from her backpack.

"Isn't that the Azoth Sword?" Illya looked at Shirou and then back at Rin. "Why do you have it?"

"This one was projected by Shirou, just a while ago. Right now, it's just an empty container without a hint of prana in it," Rin answered.

"Wouldn't that make it useless to us then?" questioned Shirou. "The one I used as a base for the Jeweled Sword had 10 years of your accumulated prana in it."

"We won't be needing that much just for a simple test," the twin-tailed magus replied. "I only need to borrow a little bit of prana from Illya," she gave a nefariously wide smile at the little girl, "Well, coming from you, a little bit should have more prana than most of my gems."

Illya gave an involuntary shudder at the look.

"Besides, it should be a lot easier for you to project it this time around, now that you've done it once before," Rin said to Shirou.

Inwardly, Rin was still a bit worried about what Archer's arm might do to Shirou if he pushed himself a little too far into projecting the Jeweled Sword once more. But they really didn't have any other choice right now, and time was of the essence.

After some time, Shirou was now holding an identical copy of the Jeweled Sword he had projected back at his home. His arm was causing him some minor pain but aside from that, the toll was considerably easier to deal with than before. The shroud hugging his arm did feel a bit warmer though.

"Are you okay, Shirou?" Illya was holding her Oniichan's hand, looking at him with concern in her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he gave her a small smile, "It is a lot easier than before."

"Good. Now we can proceed with the next phase," said Rin.

She went over and sat next to Shirou.

"Shirou, you need to hold on to the sword and pour a little bit of your prana into it. I'll help you channel it so that won't be a problem," Rin turned to address Illya, "and you need to give some of your prana to Shirou so it won't strain his arm too much. Hopefully, Archer's arm will connect us to the Throne of Heroes and it will help me locate our dimension."

The three magi sat inside the magic circle, all of them holding on to Shirou's hands that were grasping the Jeweled Sword.

Slowly, light began to emanate from the sword and a soft glow was now radiating from the circle. The air around them hummed and sparked with energy, as they continued on with their experiment.

"Okay, I'm going to activate the swords ability now," said Rin.

Moments pass before Rin announces, "Got it! I can sense a connection."

During this time, Shirou can feel the sword drain his prana reserves in greater amounts. Something within him stirs and reacts to the link they've established.

"I think something's wrong!" he declared in worry.

"Shirou! You're using too much prana!" responded Illya.

"I-it's not me!"

Rin can feel the connection to their dimension surging with more energy. She realizes that they need to sever the link to stop the reaction from going berserk.

Unfortunately, it was far too late.

Something emits a pulse of prana into the Jeweled Sword from inside Shirou. It is draining him and Illya's prana reserves and the two are unable to stop it. The sword whines and shakes with energy.

Vibrating violently, the sword starts to slowly crack until it finally shatters to emit a blast of light and energy that envelops the surrounding magi and causes them to lose consciousness.

After a minute or so, Rin tries to pick herself up from the floor. It looked like she was pushed back all the way to the wall of the room. Dazed from the blast, she attempts to reign in her focus. She notices Illya on the floor next to her.

"… Illya?" she murmered. "Illya! Are you okay?!" The magus snaps out of her stupor and cradles the homunculus gently. It was then she realized that a member of their party was missing.

"Shirou?!" Rin called desperately, "Shirou?! Where are you?!" she was scanning the entire room with her eyes but was unable to see much through the cloud of dust and smoke that was left behind by the failed test.

She kept looking around, determined to find her red-headed blockhead. Thoughts of losing him was setting her in panic, but soon she was able to make out something on the floor a few feet away from her. Her vision was still obstructed but the smoke gradually began to dissipate, allowing her to finally identify what she had been looking at.

What she saw surprised her.

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

 **I know I made quite a few mistakes here and there with the grammar and all, but I blame English being my 2nd language. Please do suggest what to fix and whatnot. Also, the writing style changes from time to time during the course of writing this because i'm easily influenced by most of the stuff I read. I really need to get a lock on that.**

 **FYI: I'll be correcting spelling and grammar mistakes, while also fine tuning the whole story every chance I get. That means every update may see some changes in previous chapters. Whether it just be minor talk or some plotholes that need to get filled in.**

 **Also, I'm glad Ravoleck finally updated! Now all I need is for the Crimson Lord to get back so I continue reading his awesome work from beginning to end again.**

 **I don't think I'll be writing until I've finished reading HF route, but it seems like it will take me a while. It's really hard to write this with only minimal knowledge of HF. So the chapters will also be edited based on my ever expanding knowledge of the Fate universe.**

 **I'm not sure what people will think of the next chapter. As far as I know, only 1 guy seems to have an idea of what comes next. I'll be sure to put a warning at the beginning of the next chapter because I'm still deciding on the M rating and I'm not entirely sure I can write that kind of thing.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 **This was written partially in the blaze of a heatwave. Some parts may get changed later on.**

 **Edited for minor corrections: 9/18/2015**

* * *

In a wide grassy field, dawn breaks over the horizon, bathing the earth and the sky with its shining radiance. Various clouds dot the clear blue sky. A very serene and peaceful scene that anyone could tell. Maybe even a perfect place for the curtains to be drawn towards a fine end.

In this field, a girl in a blue dress can be seen standing proudly and looking toward the rising sun. The light bathes her slender figure and her soft, white skin. Blond hair that shone as beautiful as gold with the light of the sun reflecting off of it. Her beauty is magnificent but her regal presence is even more so.

Shirou Emiya found himself standing just behind the girl, dazed and confused. He was having trouble remembering how he got there. 'Where am I?' The teen didn't have time to ponder his question because he was now looking at the girl's elegant back and remembered just who it was in front of him.

"Saber?" asked the boy. Unable to utter anything more because of the myriad of emotions that was now swelling up within him.

A gust of wind passes them that causes Shirou to close his eyes. As soon as the wind died down, he looked up once more, and found himself staring straight into Saber's soft green eyes. She wore a small smile on her face that was warm yet sad as she looked at him.

"In the end, there is one thing I must tell you, Shirou," said Saber in a determined voice.

Shirou couldn't bear to tear his gaze away from her. It felt like she would disappear at any moment if he blinked even once. He couldn't explain why, but he knew it to be true. The boy could only find himself asking the girl in front of him "What is it?"

Saber widened her smile a bit and her face glowed with happiness as she said, "Shirou, I love you."

With those words, another gust of wind blows through that blinds Shirou. As soon as the wind was gone, so too did the woman he loved in front him.

Pain filled his heart, as he clutched his right hand to his chest. The loss of a precious loved one is never easy, but in this case… Memories of himself driving a dagger trough Saber's heart as she stared at him, was repeating itself over and over in his mind.

He struggled hard to make sense of his jumbled up memories. "There is nothing I want more than you," he remembered he had said to Saber. "I love you more than anything," himself saying it again to the girl. Lastly, the moment his arm came down with the weapon that killed her.

Unable to endure the onslaught of emotions, he fell to his knees with tears streaming down his face. He stayed in that condition as he continued to stare at the spot where his Saber stood in front of him. Forever would he have stayed like that if not for the sound of someone's voice calling him from somewhere behind him.

"Shirou?" a familiar voice asked. "Tell me just what do you think are you doing?"

He turned his face to see Rin Tohsaka, a girl who became the school idol, perfect honor student, and someone he had always admired.

"What's wrong, Shirou?" she asked.

"I… killed her… I killed a woman I loved… I killed Saber." He answered so, as the pain in his heart threatened to consume his entire being.

"Huh?" said a confused Rin. "What are you talking about? Did all those projections finally melt your brain?" She had a look of utter disbelief pointed at him. "Saber's right here with me."

Bewildered by that piece of news, Shirou looked up and saw that Saber really was right beside Rin. The King of Knights was looking at him with a confused expression.

He froze there still staring at the woman he thought had disappeared forever.

"Really now, how can we possibly keep up with having to take care of you?" sighed Rin. "You should remember that Saber is MY Servant now, so you should do your part and help me with making sure she stays here in this world with us." She told him so as she moved in closer to him. There close proximity was causing his heart to beat faster and his face flushing. Surprising, considering his condition just a few moments ago. He couldn't really help himself as the face of the school idol face was bewitchingly beautiful to him, the softness of her hair and her scent was sending his mind off racing.

"W-what are you talking about, Tohsaka?" he stammered. For some reason, he can't keep his eyes off the curves of her lithe body. He gulped the back the saliva that had started building up in his mouth.

"Honestly, how are you still this dense after all we've been through?" she questioned. "I guess I'll just have to keep punching through your thick skull until you remember it permanently." Rin wrapped her arms gently around his neck and pulled him into a kiss, which caused his mind to blank before he found himself returning the kiss and embracing her in his arms. After a moment that seemed to have lasted hours, she finally broke away from their passionate kiss to look at him lovingly and say, "I love you, Shirou."

Her lover was stumped, but he couldn't stop himself from saying what he thought deep inside.

"I love you too, Rin."

At his words, Rin let out a smile filled with joy. That happy look she gave him was enough to set his heart once more into a fluttering mess. Before he could control himself, he found Rin's form fading in his arms.

He tried desperately to hold on to her but he was unable to feel anything but air pass through his fingers. Along with her Master, Saber too, had vanished.

"No… No… NOOOOO!" he screamed.

The world around him seemed to shake from his voice. It was only a minute later did he find himself someplace else.

The smell was the first thing he noticed. A distinct scent hung in the air surrounding him, one that his memory will not allow him to ever forget.

The coppery scent of blood pierces his senses.

It was so overwhelming that it almost made him vomit right there. The scene he saw next would have done so, had he not felt so stunned.

Bodies littered the earth around him. Man, woman, young, old, eastern and western, there was no discrimination. All of them were dead. Piles of human bodies in different forms of decay are scattered all around him. Some old and rotting. Others, still fresh with bright red blood flowing from their various fatal injuries. Arrows to the heart or right in their heads. Blades of different cuts and stabs can be seen on a lot of them as well. Other forms of damage could be seen and made for a macabre of dead. He couldn't understand the scene before him. Not until he looked at his own hands.

Blood.

His hands were stained with blood. The clear red of it shows his own reflection, that of a white-haired tanned man. 'I see,' he thought. 'These are all the people Archer killed.' He realized that what he thought wasn't right. 'No, these are all the people that I, Shirou Emiya, had killed because of my ideals.'

He stopped looking down at his hands to see the glowing dark blue sphere that embodies the will of Alaya floating a few feet away from him. Right below it, he could see Shirou Emiya standing there watching him with his distorted will shining through his eyes.

"That's right," Archer said with a sardonic smile as he stared back at his younger self. "Shirou Emiya is the kind of person who will pursue his ideals regardless of knowing what will happen to him in the future." He stood up straight with Caliburn in his right hand, gripping it resolutely. "To break this never ending cycle of death, I have to kill Shirou Emiya!"

Forward, he ran filled with killing intent for his self that was responsible for their cursed life.

Archer had covered the distance between them in only a short instance. He now had both his hands gripping his sword tightly, and swung it down with all his might, fully prepared to finally end his eternal torment. The blade would have cut clean through… except he stopped himself before the blade went even close to touching his target. His reason, a beautiful girl with violet hair was now standing between them both, looking at him with sadness.

"Move aside, Sakura," ordered Archer. "This has nothing to do with you." His sword just a few inches away from her and still tightly clenched between his hands as he said so.

"Why Senpai? Didn't you promise me that you'll protect me?" she said. "Didn't you promise me that you'll be my superhero no matter what?"

"I-I didn't-," before he could finish, Archer has a flashback of a time with Sakura in his arms as the rain continued to pour all around them. He could clearly hear the words he spoke that day to Sakura of protecting her.

He could also remember himself not only breaking his ideals, but also going entirely against them just to try and save the girl he loved. There were many people that died because he couldn't go through with killing her. People that died like the ones in that fire he was in many years ago. They must be cursing him for turning his back on them.

Still… he did not regret saving her.

"Ha…haha…ahaha!" he laughed. "It's true, I went back against my ideals that created Counter Guardian EMIYA, in order to save you." He realized that he no longer had any reason to kill his younger self, since he would no longer be able to turn into a Counter Guardian without those ideals. Dropping down the sword in his hand, he looked at her warmly and said, "I'm sorry, please forgive me for almost forgetting my promise."

"Please just come back to me," pleaded Sakura with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, I'll be there to protect you," he said as he embraced her. The forms of Saber and Rin also appeared next to them, along with Illya and even Rider. "I swear I'll protect all of you, forever and ever." He looked at each and every one of them while saying so.

With that, the world around him grew dark once more, along with his consciousness.

* * *

Waking up coughing, Shirou Emiya was lying on the wooden floors of the apartment building they were using as their test site. His memory still foggy from what he could only assume was caused by the failure of their test.

He sat himself upright, causing his dizziness to swirl. It was hard for him to see as the smoke cloud around him was still dissipating around the room. If he waited a little bit, it looked like it might clear up soon enough.

The sound of a worried voice calling his name, drew his attention.

"Shirou?!" Rin called desperately, "Shirou?! Where are you?!"

He had wanted to call out to tell her that he was fine, but he could only cough as some dust may have made its way to his lungs when he was unconscious. His coughing must have been enough to notify Rin where he was because after a moment's pause she started calling in his direction.

"Shirou! If you're fine, get over here quickly. I need your help!"

The desperation in her voice cleared up his thoughts quickly.

Standing up, he made his way towards Rin's direction until he could see the back of her sitting figure on the ground in front of him.

"R-Rin, are you alright? What's wrong?!" he asked. His voice still a bit raspy.

He saw her look in his direction and saw her gasp in surprise. Did he perhaps have some serious injuries he might not have noticed after waking up? It must be pretty bad if it left Rin Tohsaka frozen speechless.

"Archer…?"

What?

"… Is that really you, Archer?!"

Perturbed by this, he quickly scanned his surroundings to look for the Heroic Spirit. The smoke had pretty much cleared up all around them, but he could not find Archer anywhere.

He looked back at Rin to see her still staring right at him. "What are you talking about, Rin? I don't see Archer anywhere. Is he in Spirit form?"

Rin looked confused for a moment before it was replaced by a look of epiphany. "Shirou?" she whispered.

"Yeah."

"Are you kidding me?" muttered the now angry magus.

"Look, I'm fine, so tell me what's wrong?"

"You! You're not fine. Just look at yourself right now!"

"What do you mean?" He checked his body to make sure that there were no serious injuries. Nowhere in his body did he feel any sort of pain, and he couldn't find any sign of even a scratch really. There didn't seem to be anything wrong. Aside from a moment ago waking up, he actually felt great.

Which was how he realized that something indeed was wrong.

His left arm had stopped hurting. The arm that Archer gave him to save his life. It had been causing him pain continuously ever since it was attached to him, and was now completely fine. In fact, it seemed to feel perfectly normal. It was as if his arm had never been severed in the firs place.

It was at this time that he noticed that both his arms matched. They were muscled before but now they were much bigger and a lot tanner. Not just his arms though, his entire physique seems to have changed like that as well.

"Oh, so that's what happened," he said plainly.

"Don't say it like it's not really your problem!" shouted Rin.

"I have Archer's body… No, Shirou Emiya… is Archer, and always has been." He continued to stare at his arms as this revelation sank into him.

"We can figure all of this out later. Right now, I need your help Shirou!"

Shirou snapped out of his thoughts. "Y-yeah, so can you tell me what's wrong?"

Rin moved herself a little bit to the right while still sitting down. On her lap was a familiar blonde girl's head.

"Saber?" said a dumbfounded Shirou.

"That's right," answered Rin. "I found her here lying on the ground. I don't know what happened but she was seriously injured, and she would have died if I hadn't tried to heal her. But she's not out of danger just yet so I need you to help me get her and Illya upstairs. I think this house still has some old mattresses in some of the rooms."

Shirou saw Illya was sitting propped up against the wall near them. It looked like she was in a deep sleep and looked very much fine.

"I can carry Saber," declared Shirou, as he went over and picked her up in a bridal carry. "I can come back down for Illya once I'm done."

"You don't have to. Illya is pretty light so I can carry her myself."

"Okay. I'll go on ahead then." He quickly went upstairs to find a bed.

Rin was left to pick up Illya. "Time to put you to bed princess."

"Ooof!" Rin nearly fell down at hefting up Illya. "Did you gain weight?!"

The Einzbern homunculus did not reply since she was asleep, but she did tighten her arms around Rin's neck in response. "Ack!"

Later, Shirou and Rin are in Saber's temporary room, discussing her condition.

"Like I said! I used up all my prana healing Saber's wound," said Rin. "I don't have enough right now to keep her stable in this world. It's also quite strange that the mana everywhere here is so light compared to our dimension. The fact that I became her Master did help immensely with stopping her from dying, but it's not nearly enough to stop her from fading."

"But there has to be something we could do!" Shirou slammed his fist on the wall. The jumbled up memories of Saber overlapping themselves with the woman on the bed before him. "I'm not going to lose Saber!" he shouted. "...not again," in a small whisper.

"…It's okay, Shirou," said Saber weakly. She had regained consciousness only a few minutes ago after laying her on the bed. "I'm glad that I'll at least be able to say goodbye to you this time." The King of Knights had surprisingly recognized that Archer was Shirou when she woke up.

"No, …no, it's not okay," answered Shirou. The immense guilt he felt had been tearing at him slowly, when he remembered what he had done to her. How he had took the knife in his arm and brought it down on her chest as he was straddled on top of her.

He knelt beside her and took her hands in his. "Please Saber… please don't leave me."

Saber could only smile at him sadly.

Rin was looking at the two of them unamusedly. "If the two of you are quite done, I'd like to get started on fixing our prana situation."

"Eh…?" the two in question muttered.

Rin sighed and began to explain. "I just said I lacked the prana needed to help Saber right now. That doesn't mean there isn't anything we could do to fix that." She stood in her patented lecture pose and continued, "Saber and I require prana to keep herself grounded in this world. Since Saber will never willfully devour humans for their prana, she can only sustain herself from the prana she has left and my own reserves, which are almost completely depleted. That is unless I try to use a command spell to force her to do so."

"Rin!" growled Saber.

"I know, I know. That is something I would never ask you to do," answered Rin. "So that only leaves us with one other option." She was looking at both Shirou and Saber, waiting for them to realize what she was implying.

Both of their faces went red at the same time as the idea of what the last option was.

"Just so you two know, this is the only plan I have left. Shirou is also the only one who has plenty of prana to spare since we started the experiment. There isn't anything else I can think of," Rin mumbled with her cheeks slightly red as well.

Shirou was having trouble wrapping his head around what was happening right now. How was he going to explain this to Sakura? But memories of his time with Saber and Rin also keep stirring his already confused thoughts.

It felt like he had been in a situation like this once before already.

There were other memories as well. Like a time when both he, Rin and Saber went out for a date, going to the batting cages, shopping, having a picnic out in a park. Then… there was also that final farewell from Saber after she had cut down the corrupted Holy Grail with Excalibur. How much sadness he felt at that. Just how much the pain of losing her had caused him that day.

"Saber. Rin," called Shirou. "Please let's do this. If this will help Saber stay with us then I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to do so." He answered with complete seriousness.

* * *

Back at Mr. Chen's home, a slightly worried Sakura had been cooking up a storm due to their unexpected company delaying them and further increasing the number of mouths to feed. Her ability to juggle various work in the kitchen was really quite something.

"Rider? How are our…guests doing?" said Sakura, who was a bit unsure how to refer to their captives. Although... she still felt kinda like a kidnapper after having asked that line.

"They are fine. I have them tightly bound together in this house's basement except for the one who looked to be their leader," answered the Servant. She was keeping watch near the windows for any signs of them being followed from their earlier escape. "Him, I kept in one of the rooms."

"That's good," sighed Sakura in relief. "I hope Neesan won't be too mad at not having the food ready yet when they get back. It's already late and I haven't finished cooking everything yet!" she complained to herself.

She then just noticed just how late it was and how strange that her sister and their group aren't back yet. It was understandable, given that dimension crossing was almost next to impossible and that expecting quick results would be entirely unreasonable. But, then again, her sister did say that it would only be a test and that they would make it in back in time for dinner, if not earlier.

"Do you think something might have happened to them, Rider?" asked Sakura. She was really starting to get worried.

"That is a possibility, considering they are attempting to test the Second Magic."

Sakura frowned slightly at the Servant's answer. She couldn't help but think of how using magecraft always put magi so close to death every time they use it.

Seeing this, Rider sighed and said "Sakura, your sister is a first rate magus. I'm sure she woul-,"

All of a sudden Rider paused and stiffened.

The Servant took out her daggers and readied herself in a combat stance. "Sakura! I sense the presence of two other Servants coming closer," she said.

"W-what?!" cried Sakura. "That's not possible, you're the only remaining Servant left in the war!"

Rider didn't bother on making an explanation and only said, "Please get behind me."

Sakura did as she was told and prepared herself for what may come. Rider however, slowly relaxed her stance while still holding her weapon. She seemed somewhat puzzled.

"It appears something did go wrong with your sister's experiment," announced Rider as she disarmed herself.

Worried at what that could mean, Sakura quickly rushed to the front door. She opened it to suddenly come face to chest of a Servant she recalled was her sister's during the Holy Grail War.

"U-uhmm… excuse me! I'm so sorry for suddenly charging into you!" she apologized quickly and lowered her head at him.

The person in front of her could only stand and stare at her bowing form. She remembered that it was also her fault that caused the Servant's death. It wouldn't be weird for the Servant to hold a grudge against her.

"I-I'm also sorry for trying to absorb you from earlier before and trying to kill your Master! I know asking for forgiveness after everything I've done is unreasonable but please forgive me!" said Sakura to the man in front of her. She bowed lower this time.

He just stood there for what seemed like a minute before a stifled laughter broke the tension in the air. "Pfft! Hahaha."

"Huh?" wondered Sakura. That wasn't the reaction she thought she would get. She was expecting the Servant to be angry at her, maybe even livid with murderous intent. Him laughing at her apology had definitely caught her off guard.

After controlling his laughter, he gave a familiar warm smile that she recognized. "There's really nothing for me to forgive," he said. "If anything, I should be thanking you for what you've done for me."

Sakura tilted her head and questioned slowly, "Shirou…?"

"…Yeah," he answered. "I'm home, Sakura."

Shirou was anxious about what Sakura would say to his current appearance. He didn't know how he was going to explain this her. It would devastate him if she rejected him because of how different he looked. Not to mention, what she would do once she finds out about the other things he did earlier.

Sakura embraced him tightly and said "Welcome back! Senpai!" Her smiling face showed just how glad she was that he had finally returned.

After seeing this reaction from Sakura, her Senpai decided that he can think of how to explain things later, and for now, returned his lover's embrace.

"Ehem!" said a mildly irritated voice behind Shirou. "Can you two not do this in front of the entrance? I'd really like to get something to eat already and it's getting pretty cold out here."

Both Shirou and Sakura looked to see Rin, Illya and Saber waiting outside for them to clear away from the door. All of them were staring at the couple unamused at being forgotten.

The two lovers were quick to separate and began to blush.

"E-everyone, please come in. I'll have all the food ready soon," said Sakura. Too embarrassed to ask any further questions, she ran back to the kitchen in escape to have the delicious meals prepared.

In place of Sakura, Rider came over and said, "Welcome back everyone. It's good to see you're all well..., including you Saber."

"Yes, I thank you for taking care of Shirou in my absence," replied Saber with a small bow at Rider. "Had it not been for you, I'm sure he would have likely gotten himself killed before the Holy Grail War ended."

"Think nothing of it. I merely followed my Master's orders."

Everyone else greeted Rider back as well and began to take a seat in the living room area of the house. They all settled in nicely around Mr. Chen's rather large coffee table. Drinks have been prepared for everyone.

"So…," Rider began. "May I ask what went wrong?"

Rin let out a rather large sigh and was massaging her temple with her hand.

"A lot of things went wrong," she answered. "The experiment was a bust, and further attempts at crossing back to our dimension using the Jeweled Sword is now useless. The connection has been severed because our anchor, No… our _anchors_ were pulled to our side and we have no likely way of finding another way to get back."

Everyone in the room was silent at that statement. They were trying to contemplate what that just means for them, unable to go back to their original dimension.

"I don't think it's all that bad really," said Illya who was somehow smiling happily at their predicament. "Aside from our encounter with those monsters earlier, this world looks like it could be a lot of fun! Why don't we just live here?"

"You're only saying that because of how good you got it from the failed test!" responded Rin. "And stop clinging to Shirou already!"

"I don't wanna," rejected the little homunculus, who was happily hugging her adopted brother. "Oniichan is mine now! What's wrong with playing with MY Servant?" she said so smugly. "Besides, you already have Saber, and haven't you've always wanted her as your Servant, right?"

"Guh?!" Rin couldn't Illya's words. It was true that she had always wanted the strongest class Servant since before the 5th Holy Grail War even started. But seeing her Archer in the hands of Illyasiviel von Einzbern was really not something she could stand.

"Now, now Illya," said Shirou. "You shouldn't tease Rin like that. If it wasn't for her test, you wouldn't even be able to live past a year or age normally now." Even though he was scolding her, he also had a happy look on his face. Probably from knowing that his adopted sister will actually be able to live a normal life, now that her fatal faults in her homunculus design had been healed by Avalon.

Illya pouted at his words. "You're supposed to take the side of your Master, Shirou."

"I am. I just don't want you growing up too spoiled."

"Aren't big brothers supposed to spoil their little sisters?"

Shirou smiled teasingly at her and said, "Oho? Then I suppose it's alright for me to never spoil you then, since you are older than me, right? _Oneesan_?"

"Ack!" gulped Illya. "Alright! Alright! I understand. I'll stop rubbing it in Rin's face," she conceded defeat. "Just don't ever call me that. It sounds so wrong for some reason."

Her Servant complied with her request. It looked like his personality had changed somewhat along with his appearance. It seems Archer's wit had become flawlessly ingrained into him.

"I still can't believe this little brat is older than me," said Rin.

"Can we talk about something else other than my age, please?" huffed Illya. "Everyone knows it's not proper to discuss a lady's age."

"Yes, I too think it would be best if we proceeded with explaining about what exactly happened," agreed the stoic Saber. "It is important that we not get derailed from discussing the important points of what happened." She sat with a regal air around her as she was sipping her tea quietly.

Everyone around her agreed with her opinion and was about to continue their discussion, before Shirou remembered and accidentally said an important fact.

"Oh, that's right," as he pounded his left palm with his right fist. "Saber actually stopped aging thanks to Avalon's powers, so she would in fact know what it feels like to look younger than she actually is!"

"Pffft!" Saber choked on what little tea she had been sipping on. "S-Shirou! *cough* *cough* Please! We are trying to have a serious discussion here!" she declared angrily. Her face, a mixture of promise between death and embarrassment if he dared to continue.

"Y-Yeah. Sorry, my bad."

The cold looks all the other girls were giving Saber told her that they now knew why she had chosen to steer the conversation back on track. Her credibility had been totally compromised.

"Leaving aside the mystery of a certain someone's age," said Rin, to which Saber turned redder in response. "The fact that the positive points of the failed test is also the reason why it failed in the first place should be said so clearly." The first rate magus declared.

"Saber is alive, Illya will actually be able to live to old age, and my arm won't accidentally try to kill me anymore," said Shirou. "Honestly, I don't think I could ever think of any of it to be a bad thing."

"I'm not arguing against the results. I would just like it to be clear to everyone. The reason why Saber is here is because, just as you said earlier, that you had unknowingly had her Avalon inside of you all this time since your father saved you with it a long time ago. Her sheath also had connected herself to us when I tried to find our dimension, which pulled her to our side when I was trying to find a connection to Archer in the Throne of Heroes. But since we forgot that Illya was a vessel of the Holy Grail, and also had Archer's spirit absorbed into her, it added to the strength of the spell pulling to our side. The added side effect of healing Illya was probably from that combination of her channeling prana through Shirou and Avalon's reaction to Saber."

"The fact that both you and Illya are still classified as Masters by the Grail System might have been the reason why I and Saber have been summoned as your Servants as well," added Shirou.

"I guess that really shouldn't have been too surprising," said Rin as she looked closer at the command spells on her hand. "Sakura's command spells were all given back to her when we first arrived here, and the fact that we have knowledge regarding this world's language can be attributed to the lingering effects of the system still in place."

With the explanation out of the way, it looks like everyone has come into terms with what had occurred. Still, it didn't change the fact that they were now stuck in a foreign world and are currently freeloading without willful permission from a local. They also had no forms of identification and documentation to speak of, if they were ever questioned by the authorities of this world, which was very important if they were to continue living here. In order to for them to fix all of that, they would have to heavily rely on hypnotism. That and get some money… a lot of money.

Rin sighed, "Sweat, blood, prana, and money always fuels magecraft as they say."

"Uuuh… I think that last part might be wrong, Rin," said Illya.

"What are you talking about? Can't you feel your bank account going down every time you use your magecraft?"

Illyasviel and everyone else just looked at her in a deadpan. "No…, no I can't."

"Tsk! Probably because the Einzberns always had one of the biggest bank accounts in the world of Thaumaturgy. Similar to how you couldn't tell the difference if you took out a grain of sand out of a desert."

'That is definitely not the case!' shouted everyone else's mind in unison.

"Whatever, I'm gonna go help out Sakura," said Rin. She stood up and started walking in the direction of the kitchen but stopped when she saw a sack of something propped against the wall.

Curious, she asked, "Hey Rider, what's this sack for?"

Upon finally remembering what happened earlier, Rider decided to get everyone up to speed with what happened with their group.

"We decided to bring the thieves with us since we had no idea what to do with them," said Rider.

Rin was scarily silent as she was lost in her own thoughts at the information of their presence and existence of magecraft being found out. Shirou and Saber seems to be somewhat uneasy as well, considering they too have been given the knowledge of ending the existence of any normal humans who become aware of them. Illya didn't seem bothered by it at all though.

"Really," said Rin in irritation. "This is really a nasty problem right now. We don't know if this world has a Mage Association or the like. Being found out like this, could end up getting us killed. If this world has anything like Enforcers or Executioners, it would be better to dispose of them while we still can."

"Rin… you can't be serious?" asked Shirou.

Rin looked back at him in cold calmness. "I am," she said. "You should know full well how this could turn out, not only for us, but for any other innocent bystanders that could get caught up in our mess."

"But we can't know for sure that will happen here in this world!" shouted Shirou.

It looked like Saber agreed with him as well.

Rin looked at him in complete seriousness and said, "Can you be sure it wouldn't? Are you willing to bet our lives on it?"

Shirou was silent at that. Before, he might have been willing to risk it… but now? He had already betrayed his ideals for Sakura, and now he also had to consider Rin, Saber, Illya and Rider as well. Even though they were Servants and Magi, that didn't mean they were invincible. Who knew how much danger was in this world.

"…No," he finally answered, after a while.

Rin nodded her head in response. "It's not like I want to do this anymore than you do Shirou. If I thought we could modify their memories without risk, I would do just that, but were not entirely sure these people can't break out of it. We're already taking a big risk with Mr. Chen here, and it's not like we'll be killing innocent people here."

That was true. From what they heard from Rider, these people were planning on stealing from more than one shop. They had also hurt their esteemed host and would have tried to do so with Sakura as well, had Rider not intervened. Risking their lives for a bunch of thieves would be asking too much.

"What did they even steal anyway?" asked Illya.

"We didn't have time to check, but I believe the shop was selling something called Dust," answered Rider.

Rin was not pleased with that and tried to open the sack of loot "Geez, it's probably a bunch of medicine that they we-,"Her voice trailed off and was lost. She was slack-jawed upon discovering the contents of the sack.

After what seemed like a minute of her staring into the sack, Saber finally asked, "Rin? Are you okay?"

"RIDER!" she shouted so suddenly.

"Y-yes?!" stuttered Rider, surprised at the sudden eruption of emotion from Rin.

"Are there any more sacks of this?!" she asked pointing to the sack in her iron grip hand.

"Uh… I believe there were a few more that each of the thieves were carrying, but we left all of them aside from that one, since the thief who had it fell unconscious while he was still holding on to it."

"What?!" said Rin, as she had her hands pressed together tightly around Rider's shoulders. "How many?! How many of them were there?! TELL MEEEE!" she demanded, as she shook Rider very intensely, as if shaking the Servant harder would get her answers faster.

"O-Oi! Rin! Get a hold of yourself!" said Shirou. Everyone else was now trying to separate the maddened Master from the Servant. It was surprising how much strength she had in her grip considering she wasn't even a Servant. It almost seemed like she was using reinforcement.

After finally separating Rin from poor Rider and calming her down, Illya asked her gently, "So what's in the sack that you finally lost your mind, Rin?" Well..., what she probably thought was her being gentle.

It was clear to everyone that the sack was probably very precious based on the reaction it caused from the usually practical and logical magus. Not to mention that Rin still had her arms wrapped in a vice like grip around it as if her baby was going to get stolen if she loosened her hold on it for even a second. ...Yes, it was probably very _very_ important to her.

Seeing the worried look everyone was giving her, Rin finally relented her grip and took out a small piece of what was inside the all-important sack. "This-," she indicated to the yellow gem in her fingers, "-crystal gem is one of the many that fill this entire sack. Not only that, but each of these gems are already filled with prana," she said delightedly with zealous passion. "The prana feels a little weird and somewhat raw but it's still a good amount of it. I can't even put enough of my prana into these many gems in my lifetime!"

The entire room was left stunned at that.

"I feel like I'm dreaming," Rin said, as she was slowly caressing the sack of gems like a precious pet, a look of ecstasy on her face. "This world is so wonderful! Let's stay here forever!" She finally declared something completely unreasonable for the wrong reasons.

* * *

After regaining her composure from earlier's debacle, Rin went to have a chat with the so called leader of their prisoners. Rider had him separate from his lackeys. While he was tied to a chair in Mr. Chen's study, his friends were all holed up in the basement.

Accompanying Rin was Rider. Saber and Illya went to check up on the prisoners in the basement. While Shirou, wanted to help out Sakura with the cooking duties to help speed things up from the delay.

Rin opened up the room to the study to find a certain "Master Criminal" sitting tightly bound to a chair that has fallen on its side. He was still squirming in the seat trying to loosen his binds while mumbling what could only be curses through his gagged mouth, before he finally noticed that someone had entered the room.

Rin couldn't help but smirk.

"Looks like someone was trying hard to escape."

She moved to take a seat and positioned it in front of her prisoner. The twin-tailed princess took her time sitting herself comfortably in front of Torchwick as he could only glare at her in annoyance.

"Hmmm…," hummed Rin. "I guess if we aren't face to face we won't be able to talk properly like this," she said in an amused tone. It was clear that she was enjoying taking her time in agonizing the man in front of her.

Torchwick was entirely unamused at her performance. He had been in that position for hours after he had tried smashing some part of the chair to loosen his bonds. It didn't work. The chair, was to his annoyance, made from sturdier stuff than what movies used.

"Rider, can you please help our guest?" the girl in front of him asked.

The sultry beauty that had kicked his ass earlier, came over and grabbed the chair with one hand and lifted it upright with ease… while he was still stuck to it. That certainly caused him to raise an eyebrow. The gag on his mouth was also finally removed.

"Gah!" he breathed. "Don't you people know how to treat a gentleman right?" He was complaining while moving around his jaw to stretch the muscles.

"I don't believe a true gentleman would ever be caught stealing," replied Rin, passively. "That goes the same for hurting women and the elderly." She smiled at him but he could tell that her eyes weren't smiling at all. Everyone would probably think how beautiful her smile is, but to him, it was sending chills down his spine.

In total disregard of his uneasiness, he continued to act cocky and asked "So why am I not in a prison cell right now? Got a personal grudge against me or are you one of those out to dispense their own brand of justice thing?"

Rin was humming to herself in thought at his question.

"We're not any of those really," she answered, which elicited a puzzled look from Torchwick. "I suppose you can say that you were just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Hey, hey, hey, that sounds like something a bad guy would say right before he kills off someone," he said jokingly.

The silent pause in the room caused him to look again once more at his captors.

The girl in front of him was no longer smiling. Her face only held that of a calm mask that only quietly looked at him. Aside from moving his chair earlier, the woman beside her had stood still at the exact same spot without even a single muscle twitch. You could mistake her for a statue.

For the first time since his capture, Roman Torchwick paled upon realizing that they weren't denying what he had just said.

"L-Ladies, it's rude not to laugh at someone's jokes," he stammered out.

"...Yeah, If only it was a joke." The cold mask she had on, never leaving her face, as Rin said so.

Roman couldn't believe what he was hearing. These people were seriously planning on killing him. He didn't even know what he did wrong. Well, he did kinda know what he was doing was wrong, but from what he had gathered, the robbery wasn't even the reason they were going to execute him for.

He couldn't understand how this could be happening to him right now!

His job should have been simple. Hit up and steal as many Dust as he can take from the entire City of Vale. No muss and no fuss. Aside from a minor setback in the beginning, everything else had been going smoothly without too much problems with any of the authorities. But now…

...He was going to die.

"Now let's calm down here girls," said Torchwick. His mind was racing trying to think of anything to get out of this alive. "We don't want to do anything drastic that we can never take back, right?"

The two ladies in front of him seemed to have already decided his fate. He saw no reaction from them that could even give him a hint that they were just bluffing.

"Look! Just tell me what you want I'm sure I can get it for you," he was now panicking. "I'm a big time criminal here and I've got connections you can use! I'm sure we can work something out." The people in front of him didn't seemed interested. "If you get rid of me, the White Fang will certainly hunt you down!" He had resorted to threatening them.

"Rider," called Rin.

The long purple haired woman had seemingly materialized a nail-like dagger in her hand. It didn't take a genius to know what she was going to use it for.

"Dammit! Dammit! I'll do anything you want! Please just don't kill me!" he finally started begging.

It didn't seem to be working as well so he did the only thing he could do and resorted to complaining about his life in resignation.

"To think stealing all that Dust for the White Fang was going to land me here," he sighed. "I guess this is it huh? All that karma has finally come back to bite Roman Torchwick, and all I can think of is how women have been the bane of my existence." He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.

He waited and waited, but after a while, he opened up an eye to check if his death was still coming.

"…You… what did you say just now?" asked the smaller girl in front of him. Her cold look from before was now replaced by a look of a hunter that's caught the scent of a prey.

"Uuuh… That women are the bane of-,"

"Not that! The one about you saying something about Dust!"

"Oh, that," he replied perplexed. "I've been given orders to steal Dust all over the entire city with the help of the White Fang. We only just started operations, but we have gotten quite the load in that short amount of time. If I had enough time, I'm sure we would have had the largest amount of stolen Dust any criminal would have ever seen." He couldn't help but state the last part with pride.

The woman in front of him frowned at that. "When you say 'Dust,' you're talking about this thing, right?" And out of her pocket a single yellow gem was in between her fingers.

Torchwick looked at her suspiciously. "Yeah, that's a Dust crystal. How in the world do you not know what Dust is?"

The girl didn't bother answering him and turned her back on him to think about the new information she had just received. She had her hand on her chin and seemed to be thinking really hard, and all the while muttering something to herself.

After a while, the girl turned back to face him with a scheming smile on her face.

"Well… It looks like we do have something to discuss now, Mr. Torchtick," she said.

"It's Torchwick!" he retorted.

"Whatever," she said lazily. "The important thing is I think I might have found a way for you to get out of this alive," came the sweet sound of the devil's voice. "You mentioned you were willing to do anything, correct?"

Roman couldn't believe his luck. It looked he might not die today at all. If he played his cards right, he could probably trick them into letting him go. For that chance, he was willing to say whatever it was they wanted.

"Become our slave for all eternity."

Okaaay, maybe agreeing to say _whatever_ they wanted to hear was a bit too broad. That line just now seemed something out of a devil's hand manual.

"I beg your pardon?" He could only think that he might have heard wrong.

"I guess what I said was wrong," answered Rin, to Torchwick's relief. "You'll only be a slave until we declare your services otherwise unneeded," she corrected.

Roman stared at her in disbelief.

"You're joking, ...right?"

"Would you rather die right now then?"

"Your humble slave, Roman Torchwick, thanks his kind masters for sparing his life," said the shameless criminal eloquently.

Rider finally moved from her spot and came next to Rin and asked, "Is this really alright?"

"Yeah," she answered. "They may prove useful in solving some of the problems we have right now."

"No, I mean surely you know this poor excuse of a man will betray us as soon he has chance to."

"I'm right here you know?" stated Torchwick.

"You don't have to worry. If my theory is correct, we shouldn't have any problems binding him and the rest to us with a Geis scroll. This no-good so called 'Master Criminal' will have no choice but to obey us."

Rider looked at her carefully, and only saw complete confidence. So she could only nod her consent.

"Again. I'm right here," repeated Torchwick. "You guys are saying some pretty weird stuff right now and it's getting a little bit scary."

Rin turned to face him once more. A businessman's smile plastered over her face. You can pretty much tell she's up to something bad for him.

"Oh, don't worry about that. We were just talking about having you sign a contract to ensure your loyalty. It's no big deal really. All you and the rest of your buddies have to do is agree to sign it and we have a done deal."

Somehow, Roman had the feeling it wasn't going to be as simple as what she made it out to be. But he wasn't planning on honoring his deal anyway so nothing would really change even if they did have him sign something on a piece of paper.

Looks like escaping was going to be easier than he thought. The only thing they had to prevent his escape was having a contract stop him. He was a criminal, breaking a contract is nothing to him. What were they gonna do, sic their lawyers at him?

* * *

After Rin had the contract written up, she and Rider escorted the still bound Torchwick to the basement where the rest of his henchmen were held.

"Uuuwaaah…" came an excited voice from inside the room.

Together, Roman, Rin, and Rider, found themselves dumbstruck upon watching an excitable young silvery-white haired girl, who looked like she was stroking one of the female prisoner's behind.

"Look! Look, Rin!" she said happily. "It's so soft and warm!" Illya continued to move her hands in a stroking motion, which caused the female prisoner to fidget and blush against her binds.

"Illyasviel!" shouted Rin. "W-What do you think you're doing?!" She questioned her as she grabbed the small homunculus away from the prisoner. Rin also found Saber just standing on guard nearby and asked her, "How can you allow this to happen?!"

"What?" she said, puzzled.

"What are you talking about, Rin?" asked Illya who was still held in the Jewelcraft user's arms. "I was just stroking her tail. I don't see anything wrong with that."

"How can you not see anything wrong wi-," Rin froze for a moment. "…Come again?"

"I said I was just stroking her tail."

"… Her… tail? She has a tail?"

"Yeah," nodded Illya. "She has a really fluffy fox tail." A very pleased look was present on her face at saying so.

Curious, Rin took a look herself and found that the prisoner did indeed have a fox's tail. A completely real tail, unlike the animal cosplayers they know of. Now that she looked at all of them, she noticed that some were sporting animal ears as well.

"Don't tell me you guys haven't seen a Faunus before?" said Roman after seeing the surprising reaction from his captors.

His captors looked at him and didn't seem to recognize the word he just said.

"Faunus..., you know. People that have physical animal traits… the other people besides us humans that we share the world with," he tried to see if that would jolt these hicks of their memories.

The silence pretty much shot down that idea.

"Unbelievable…" he sighed.

"What is going on, Rin?" queried Saber. The appearance of Roman here seemed out of place for what they had discussed earlier. "Are you planning on doing it all at once here?"

"No. There's been a change of plans," said Rin.

That was good. Saber wasn't looking forward to killing unarmed prisoners but she did understand the need to do so. Still… her knight's honor would be tarnished for doing such a deed. She was inwardly glad at the change.

"Yay! Does that mean I get to keep them?" cheered Illya.

"Techinically, were going to be binding them to us in servitude with a Geis scroll. But I suppose you could say that."

"Rin, are you sure about this?" asked Saber doubtfully. "They are not even magi. I don't think a Geis scroll could work on them."

Rin crossed her arms and explained to them some of the things she found out about Dust from Roman, and questioning the now awake Mr. Chen, courtesy of the smell from Sakura and Shirou's cooking.

"It seems like there's a lot more to the people here than we thought," said Rin. "We'll need to find out more about Dust and Aura later but for now, I believe the Geis scroll should be able to work on them."

She was looking at the prisoners they held, staring a bit longer at the all of them aside from the human. "Although… I wouldn't really mind if some of them were to refuse," she stated. "Think of what I could learn from dissecting any one of them, including that Torchcreep guy."

The Faunus seems to have heard her because they started struggling hard against the ropes that tied them to the steel beams of the basement. Roman, who was tied together with them after he arrived, didn't have ears that could hear as well as his comrades so he was left confused at their desperate attempts at breaking free.

Seeing the prisoners become slightly panicked, Saber came over and tried to alleviate their concerns. "Please calm down," she said. "I'm sure Rin wasn't being serious. She is not the type of person to do something like that." Thanks to her demeanor and charm, it looked like she was able to calm them down somewhat. "You need not fear such barbaric methods from us."

Unaware of the commotion she was causing, Rin whispered to herself, "I wonder how much the Mage Association would have paid me for each Faunus they could dissect?"

And once more, the Faunus started struggling harder, more than ever.

Saber could only sigh in defeat at her Master's wonderful personality.

When Rin finally went over to the prisoners, aside from a very visible gulp from all of them, they sat quietly shivering in fear.

It was like a predator that appeared before his prey. The first one to move would be the first one to get eaten.

Looks like the Faunus really did have a lot in common with animals.

Rin stood before them in a commanding pose and said to them, "Look, I'm going to make you guys the same offer I gave your boss here," she paused to think about how to best explain it in a short, clear, and concise manner.

"Join us, or die."

She wasn't sure if she nailed it right but at least her explanation was pretty short.

The blank stares Rin was getting from everyone including her friends might have gave her a feeling that she may have missed her mark.

Saber coughed to get Rin's attention. "Could you not have phrased that differently, Rin?"

"What? I just wanted to get straight to the point," said Rin seriously.

"It might be better to tell them what exactly your offer entails."

"… Fine," agreed Rin, albeit reluctantly. She went into lecture mode and started by saying, "All of you will be given a magical contract called a Geis scroll to sign, which will ensure that you will remain loyal for the duration of your servitude to me and my comrades without you trying to betray or purposely cause us serious harm, that includes keeping all information we deem important regarding us as a secret. The duration will be determined for as long as I or my comrades see fit that your services are required. You will follow all our orders to the best of your abilities. If should you try and break any of the oaths that I have stated in the contract, the curse will take effect and cause you intense pain, possibly even cause death depending on the severity of your fault."

Upon finishing her explanation, Rin looked to see that Roman and the Faunus were looking at her like she was crazy.

"Any questions?"

Since the Faunus were still gagged, only Roman could talk. "Magical contract and a curse…? What are you, some kind of witch?"

"I'm not a witch," answered Rin. "...Are there witches here?"

"No! Of course not. There's no such thing as witches, and that goes the same for magic and curses. Who would believe in such things?!"

Rin nodded her head at him. "Good. It looks like magecraft isn't known here or at least not openly."

Taking out what appeared to be a scroll of vellum, Rin showed it in front of Torchwick.

"Can you read this contract I made?"

Roman took a look at the piece of paper in front of him. All he saw was gibberish that was completely garbage to him.

"What is this? It's completely unreadable. There isn't even any sort of alphabet on here and looks just like a bunch of squiggly lines all over the place."

Rin let out a tired sigh. "Looks like I was right about needing a magic crest." She went and put away the piece of paper in place of a marker in her hand. "I'm going to be writing a rune on you that should be able to fix this," she said and took Roman's forearm and began painting a weird alphabet that he didn't recognize.

"I really hope this washes off cleanly," said Roman.

"Oh, don't worry. That is going to be permanent but won't really be visible to anyone after were done. It will only show up whenever the curse is active."

"Terrific…," claimed Roman sarcastically.

"Now can you read this?" Rin held the contract once more in front of him.

Roman rolled his eyes and looked again. To his surprise, the contract was actually quite legible now. He couldn't believe it. They must have switched it when she was writing that thing in his arm.

"That's some parlour trick you got there. I'm sure you'd be a hit with the kids at parties."

Rin only smiled at his quip. She freed his right hand, held out a pen to him and said, "All you need to do is sign."

Roman took the pen offered to him and said while signing, "I feel like I'm selling my soul here."

"That's because you are," said Illya. The little girl was smiling innocently at him, but for some reason, he felt more anxious about her than dealing with the one called Rin.

"Are we done here?" asked Roman. "These ropes are starting to chafe me pretty bad."

"Almost," said Rin as she took out a small knife.

Roman panicked inwardly at the thought that maybe she had changed her mind about killing him. That was until he saw her make a small cut on her finger and began to drip her blood on the contract, which glowed blue and became brighter with each drop.

The rune on Roman's arm started to glow a calm blue as well before completely vanishing. He turned his arm around twice, checking all over for how that happened.

"Oookay… I admit. That was some trick you did there," he said.

"Oh, we're not done yet." The twin-tailed girl took the knife to cut the rope tying him and brought out a familiar cane that could only have been his. "I was told that this is able to use Dust," she said while holding the cane in her right hand before tossing it at him. "Why don't you show us how it works?" a seemingly innocent smile on her face.

Roman couldn't believe his luck.

Here was his chance to get out of here. The cane in his hand was still fully loaded, and the girl that gave it to him was right in front of him, far enough from the others for them to be able to help her in time.

"A demonstration? Sure, why not?" he said. "See the bottom tip of this cane?" Pointing said tip right at the girl's temple.

Rin continued to smile amusedly at him and nodded.

"It's a gun barrel!" declared Roman. A small scope popped up and was aimed directly at Rin.

"Now nobody move or the girl ge-," before Roman could finish his cliché line, an intense pain was coming from his chest, causing him to collapse on the floor.

"Aaahh!" he shouted, while clutching his chest tightly. A searing pain was also present on his forearm. The rune that had vanished earlier had now appeared, and was glowing and pulsing an intense red.

"Oh my! Aren't you going to finish the demonstration Mr. Torchsick?" asked the girl with an evil smile at him.

"W-W-what's going…on!" he heaved and demanded. "What… did you do… to me?!" It felt like his heart was being crushed.

"Nothing," answered Rin in fake denial. "Weren't you the one who tried to break the contract just now?" she asked innocently.

"Gah!" struggled Torchwick. He could see that none of her other comrades seemed surprised at his situation. Almost as if they were already expecting this to happen.

It finally dawned at him that they really did put a curse on him!

"I'm sure it'll pass soon,"stated Rin. "Although, it might have been different had you actually tried to shoot me."

All of the other people in the room could only watch as Roman continued to struggle and twitch at the intense pain that was assaulting him. The woman in front of him decided to ignore his current predicament to address his group instead.

She beamed a smile at the rest of her victims and said enthusiastically, "Now, let's get the rest of you all signed up!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I was finally able to get out this chapter. So much stuff had to be done and so much other stuff got in the way. The heat was killing me even though I was just sitting down in my room with 2 fans on me for 2 damned weeks.**

 **I didn't really get as far as I wanted to in this chapter but If I delay any longer, who knows how long before I have another chance to do so. That means next chapter will mean the story won't move forward in time at all. Probably time for dinner, actually.**

 **Please read and review so I can improve.**

 **Also, for updates please go to my profile since I do make announcements on the status of my progress. If I was ever gonna abandon, delay or unable to continue fanfiction writing, I will be sure to post something there so people don't have to keep waiting on my story. That is only if I don't die or something.**

 **P.S.**

 **I have changed the rating to T. I'll be sure to change it if I ever write something in the future that would require an M rating.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 **This one is a bit shorter but is still longer than chapter 1 so I guess that's okay. I'm trying to move things along a little bit faster.**

 ***I may add additional dialogue to this chapter in the future.**

* * *

In a certain hypnotized old man's rather large dining room, an intense battle was occuring. The sounds of metal hitting metal, meat being devoured, and bones being crunched was sickeningly loud as the crazed beasts inside fought for supremacy.

"Hey! That's mine!"

"I saw it first!"

"You snooze, you lose."

"Where's the ketchup?!"

"Can someone please pass me the salt?"

"Get back! BACK! I say, you animals! That chicken is mine!"

And what a battle it was indeed.

"Please, you don't have to rush. There is plenty of food for everyone," stated Sakura, who was quite pleased with how everyone seems to be enjoying the meals she prepared.

None of the faunus or Torchwick seemed to have heard her, as they continued on their fight for delicious conquest.

"Well, I'm glad at least that we didn't over prepare too much food," said a white-haired man in an apron. He was coming out of the kitchen with a fresh batch of food in his hands. "You'd think they haven't eaten in days."

"I can probably say the same thing with us, Senpai," answered Sakura with a soft giggle. Looking over at the other side of the table, she could see a different kind of fight between Servants.

"Saber…, know that I have done much in the service of your Master while you were gone. Will you not surrender this to me in deference to that?" came a voice from a blind-folded woman. She had a pair of chopsticks holding on to what looked to be a piece of salted pork.

"…Rider, while I do appreciate what you've done for Shirou, I'm afraid this is something I cannot relinquish to you," said a petite blonde-haired girl, who also had a pair of chopsticks in her hand grabbing on to the same piece of salted pork.

Tension hung in the air around the two Servants, as neither of them were willing to yield to the other. A stack of plates around them showed the staggering amount of casualties they've already put into the sizable spread that what others could have only called a banquet.

"Y-Yeah," agreed Shirou. "It seems like everyone hasn't had time to have a decent meal since we got here." He could see a pair of magi in the room who were adding to the intense atmosphere of the already bloodthirsty feast.

"Save some of that curry for the rest of us, Illya," smiled an agitated Rin. "You know it was hard for me to get you up the stairs this afternoon because of how heavy you've gotten." Her hand was on a bowl of curry as she attempted to move it away from a small child. "You could stand to lose a little bit of weight."

The little girl beside Rin, pulled back on the curry and said, "I'm a growing girl now, Rin! I can eat as much as I want." She also had an equally agitated smile at the taller girl. "Unlike you, who'll only grow fatter if you eat too much. You should be thankful I'm doing you a favor."

"What was that?! You fake little brat!"

"Don't call me that! You two-faced jackal!"

It certainly looked like dinner was a very lively affair.

"Hohoho," laughed a jolly old man. "It seems like everyone is quite happy with the meal you've both prepared." His hand on his slightly swelled belly, as he said so.

Both cooks present could only agree to his claim, as they could see a pretty sizable stack of empty plates near the old man as well. It seemed that being hit in his stomach hadn't really negatively affected Mr. Chen's appetite. Although from the number of plates he'd emptied, they couldn't really be sure if the old man might be overeating for his age.

Once the bloodbath ended, everyone seemed to have settled into a quiet stupor, content on lying down or staying still to digest the loots of their plunder. The house owner already in his room to turn in for the night. Old people seemed really intent on sleeping early.

"So…," said Shirou. Breaking the peaceful silence that settled in the room. "Why don't we introduce ourselves to one another, since we will be working together from now on."

Everyone turned to look at him. They just now remembered that, aside from their own group, none of them even knew the names of the other people in the room with them.

"Why don't I start then?" answered Roman. He stood up from his seat and said, "Roman Torchwick, criminal extraordinaire, gentleman, and the leader of this novice ragtag group of faunus." Bowing before them in a showy manner.

"Yeah, right," snorted one of the faunus.

Roman glared at the offending Faunus and said, "Something you wanna say, mutt?"

"You're damn right, I have something to say about that!" shouted the wolf-eared Faunus. "Whose ever heard of a human leading members of the White Fang?!" The man slammed his fist into the dining table.

"Hey, If you've got problems with it, blame your so-called alphas that's running the group for having stuck you with me," replied Roman. "Even then, a novice like you doesn't have the right to complain about the decisions of their superiors."

The wolf Faunus growled and clenched his fist. "I may be a new member to the White Fang, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let some human like you walk all over me," he threatened.

"Right, right, like a mutt like you could take me on."

"You want to try me, you bastard!"

A fight seemed ready to happen at any moment between the two. Unfortunately for them, someone didn't seem willing to let them continue with their quarrel.

"You two…," said an icy voice. "Sit! Now!"

The runes on both their forearms began to glow red, and the pain forced them to comply with the order given. They sat themselves down quickly and stayed silently glaring at each other afterwards.

Rin Tohsaka took a quick sip of her tea before laying it back on the table. "Now that Mr. Torchlick here is done-,"

"It's Torchwick!" said someone in the background.

"-lets continue with the introductions. How about we start with Mr. Wolf here," said Rin. "Oh, but we will be discussing your behaviors just now, in private later." Her icy stare promising the two men that it certainly will not be pleasant for the both of them.

The wolf Faunus turned his glare away from Roman, while he clicked his tongue and said, "Name's Rud Luzion, I'm a wolf Faunus. Just joined the White Fang a week ago with my pals here." After saying that, he sat back down, with no plans on continuing whatsoever.

"I can fill in some more for my friend here," said the youngest looking faunus of the group. He looked to be somewhat around Sakura's age, or maybe even younger because of that baby-face of his. "Rud here is a bit ill-tempered but he does care about us a lot. Even though he's usually loud all the time, he's actually a pretty dependable guy."

The cheerful and upbeat attitude of the young looking faunus seemed to have dispersed the earlier tension.

"As for me," he continued. "My name is Eugene Moran. I'm a squirrel Faunus, if you can't tell just by my tail. I like to play and eat a lot. I also love my mom very very much!" His declaration of his love of his mother certainly made most of the people present raise an eyebrow. "Me, Rud, Thomas, and Euly here were all friends and joined the White Fang only a week ago. We're not really from around here and originally came from Vacuo."

Aside from that mom comment, everything else he said seemed perfectly normal.

"Oh yeah, I'm also the oldest among my friends here," he added.

"Hah?" came the response from the people who just found that out.

The fact that the rest of the faunus looked to be somewhere in their early 20's seemed to have been the cause of the reaction to that piece of information. The squirrel faunus didn't even look like he was past his teenage years yet and could pass off as younger than Sakura or Saber.

Those confused, looked over at the other faunus in the room, looking for confirmation. All of the faunus nodded their heads in confirmation on what had just been said.

"I know it's hard to believe, but Eugene here is actually 27 years old," said a male raccoon-eared Faunus. "As for myself, my name is Thomas Ground and I'm the next oldest at being 24 years old." The man said so as he crossed his arms, nodding to himself. "Also, I'm still single, if any of you lovely ladies wanted to know," he added and winked at the girls with a somewhat creepy smile.

Suddenly, the rune on the raccoon Faunus' arm started glowing, and the man found himself squirming on the floor in pain.

"Gah! But I didn't even do anything!" he protested.

"That is interesting," said Rin as she looked at the twitching Faunus in front of the group. "I guess the curse interpreted what you said as threatening to us." A look of curiosity present on her face. "That or everyone else here actually just felt really disgusted enough that we actually felt you were threatening us." The latter statement receiving nods of agreement from all the women of the room, some of the men doing the same too.

"N-No way! As a man, I can't NOT flirt with all the beauties here! Gack!" he said as he continued to twitch on the floor.

"Geez… just how stubborn can you be, cousin?" said one of the two only female Faunus. She also had a pair of raccoon ears on her head. "When are you ever going to change?" she sighed disappointedly while shaking her head at the twitching man on the floor.

Everyone could only sympathize with her for having to be related to someone like him.

Turning her face away from her cousin, the female Faunus addressed everyone in a bubbly voice and said, "Hello everyone! It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Euly Ground. I'm a bit of a chatterbox but I hope get along with everyone." Her reception was a lot warmer than that of her cousin. "I just turned 20 this year and I'm also a bit of a tech nerd. Unfortunately, as you can see, the sad excuse of a faunus that is twitching on the floor right now is my cousin," she said the last part in depression.

"E-Euly! ...Yooou!" came the voice from the floor.

"I apologize on behalf of myself, and my aunt and uncle for his existence," she continued seriously. It felt like she was really used to saying that. She had also completely ignored the one who had just called out to her.

After her introductions, Euly sat back down. The fox-tailed Faunus next to her would be the last one to introduce herself in their group.

"Hello, please treat us well," politely said the Faunus. "My name is Kelly Bianchi, I've been with the White Fang for a while now and have usually done support work within the Vale branch." She seemed to be the most mature of the group. Something a certain Tiger should have probably been like thought some of the people present.

In a dimension far away, a woman who was lazily sprawled and sleeping on a bed sneezed herself awake.

"Please don't hurt any of my comrades here," pleaded the oranged-haired fox Faunus. "I don't know about Mr. Torchwick, but my comrades and I may have been in the wrong, but we were only doing what we were told because we have our own circumstances that forced us to do so." Tears began welling up in the woman's eyes as she said so.

An awkward silence fell before everyone, as they remembered the events prior to their hectic dinner. Half of the people there had been on the verge of being killed, and was forced to what basically amounted to slavery, with the penalty being death, if they were to refuse.

"Just as you say your comrades are not bad people, I can tell you the same about us," said Saber. "Our earlier actions were not of our own desire, but merely a necessary need for our survival and the safety of everyone else."

"That's a load of bull," said Rud. "Why would you need to kill us for your safety? From how strong that blind woman is, I seriously doubt a team of Huntresses or Huntsmen would come out unscathed after fighting her." He glared angrily at said woman.

Torchwick and the faunus seem to remember well what had happened against the black dressed Servant earlier. They couldn't completely disagree with their comrade's blunt assessment. It didn't even take a minute for the woman to knock them all out and some of them didn't even see her at all before they lost consciousness.

"It's not just our safety we're worried about," answered Rin. Her attention was elsewhere as she said so, most likely focused on the Dust crystal on her hand. "Normally, having people find out about anything related to Thaumaturgy is a big problem for everyone," she said as she put the crystal down to seriously focus on everyone. "It wouldn't be surprising for a whole city to get wiped out just to keep everything a secret."

The faunus and Torchwick all gasped at that.

"You're lying," said Torchwick. "Besides the fact that I still don't believe all this magic crap, there is no way whole city would be wiped out just because of that!" He couldn't think of any city that could get wiped out for knowing something stupid like the existence of magic. "We already have problems expanding anywhere else because of the Grimm. I don't think wiping out an entire city just to keep your so called magic secret is plausible."

"It's not that we agree with the methods," said Shirou sadly. He could remember the number of times it has happened before in Archer's memories. "It's just how we know might happen based on our knowledge and experience."

Rin nodded her head at his statement and added, "What's the price of a few lives, compared that to a whole city? Especially the lives of a few criminals at that."

Roman and the Faunus couldn't directly fault the logic in that question. After all, they were part of a terrorist organization. If people could sacrifice them to save an entire city, most would do so in a heartbeat. The people would only think that they would be doing something actually useful with their lives.

"We may have been taking our precautions a little bit too zealously," admitted Rin. "It's not like we're entirely sure that something like a Mage Association here would do the same thing as the one we know of would."

The Faunus in the room shivered. They most likely remembered what the girl had said about them being dissected and sent to the very same organization she had mentioned.

"But for now, we'd still like it if you people would keep everything about us secret."

"You keep saying things about this whole secret society of magicians of yours," said Euly. "But we haven't really seen you do any magic at all."

"…What?" questioned Rin.

Euly had a confused expression on her face. "I mean, we've only seen you use that weird semblance of yours with the whole glowy runes on making us your slaves."

"Semblance…?"

Rin and her group was unable to identify the word with any magecraft they were familiar with.

"The tangible projection of your Aura, sort of like the manifestation of your soul," added Eugene. "I mean I know it's pretty mostly limited to those with a strong enough Aura like Huntsmen and Huntresses, but still… everyone should know that."

"That sounds a lot like Projection and a Reality Marble," frowned Shirou. He didn't like the idea of having opponents who could possibly do the same things as he does. That would severely increase the limit of danger they would face in this world. "Are you saying that there are a lot of people here that can do what you said?"

Eugene seemed a bit uncomfortable at explaining commonly known knowledge. "Well, yeah. A bunch of kids are able to use that and they usually get trained early on to become Huntsmen and Huntresses. It's how we're able to fight off Grimm from overrunning our cities."

"Interesting...," mumbled Rin. The Jewelcraft user looked toward Illya and said, "Illya, can you show them your magecraft, please?" She wanted to see just how much this Semblance thing is similar to their magecraft.

Illya nodded her head and used the strands of her hair to create two of her bird familiars.

"These are my familiars called _Zelle,_ " she said.

Rin faced Euly and asked, "Is this what you call a Semblance?"

"Wow… so pretty." Euly could only stare in amazement at the flying birds that emitted light. So too did most of the Faunus and Roman.

"Euly! Focus!" Rin snapped her fingers in front of the distracted Faunus.

Snapping out of her daze, she said, "Uhm… yeah, that's really nice Semblance by the way."

Rin couldn't believe it. These people were unable to tell magecraft from this Semblance they know of. If so, the use of their magecraft might not be too difficult to hide in this world. It also means they won't have to follow the rules regarding the secrets of magecraft when it comes to disposing of witnesses.

"You must have a pretty powerful Aura to be able to keep your Semblance on us up for this long," said Kelly, as she remembered how long it's actually been since they've signed that contract and how it was still active, based on how it still functioning.

Rin questioned the woman, "What are you talking about?"

"For someone to keep their Semblance active for so long, they would have to be constantly using their Aura. If you don't release it soon, then you'll end up fainting once your Aura gets exhausted," claimed Kelly.

"I see," said Rin. "You believe that I'm still powering the contract that's bound to you."

What Rin said confused Roman and his group. They couldn't understand how else was she going to be able to keep her Semblance running on them. All of them assumed that they would get imprisoned when she was close to running out of Aura, so that she can recharge, before safely putting them back under her Semblance.

"I take it, one's Semblance can only be powered by their owner's own Aura?" Rin asked.

All the Faunus nodded to her in response.

"A person's Semblance is also unique to its owner," said Euly. "Although sometimes family members may share similarities as well, everyone knows that one's Semblance are limited to their innate power."

"Then, I'm sorry to say, that's not how magecraft works." Rin took her empty glass in her hand for everyone to see, and promptly dropped it hard on the stone table. Pieces of the glass shattered into various sizes along the table.

"What did you do that for?" asked Roman.

Rin ignored him and hovered her hand above the shards of glass. " _Minuten vor Schweiben,"_ she whispered.

A swirl of blue prana flowed down into the glass from her hand, to the amazement of Roman and his crew. It gathered around the surrounding pieces and returned the glass back to its former form without a single hairline crack even visible anywhere on it.

Roman looked unimpressed. "Very nice, but I've seen people do the same thing with their Semblance before."

Once again, Rin ignored him and aimed her outstretched left arm at it and said, " _Gandr."_

A black red ball of energy gathered in quickly and shot out from the tips of her fingers. It had hit the glass and shattered it once more. Rin quickly fixed up the glass once more for all of them to see.

The faunus and Roman looked stunned at the demonstration. Everyone else just waited for Rin to continue talking.

"You're…. Semblance," said Roman. "Just what the heck is it?"

"Like I said, its magecraft not Semblance," replied Rin. "The Geis scroll you signed, functions on magecraft as well. It does not require constant energy from this Aura you mentioned. So long as you are alive, the curse will remain. That is unless we release you from it."

Roman and the faunus looked at their arms where the invisible marks of their slavery was embedded. They just know fully realized just what it is they have gotten themselves into.

A soft encouraging voice said, "We promise we won't force you to stay with us forever." Sakura tried to ease their sudden depression. "And while you are with us, I can promise you that we will treat you well."

"Well this sucks…," said Rud.

No one disagreed with his assessment.

Once the shock from earlier's discussion was over, the Masters and Servants introduced themselves in turn. It was a brief introduction, with them only saying their names and some greetings to their new subordinates. The group finally went on to discuss their next course of actions.

"So now that we're all acquainted," grumbled Roman. "What are your plans for us in the future, O wise, and esteemed _Master_?" He stressed the word with as much disdain as he could.

It was only Rin, Rider, and Roman in the living room area of the house. The faunus had turned in for the night, quite mentally exhausted, and wanted to at least get a good night's rest. Saber had carried the sleeping Illya to bed as well, while Shirou and Sakura were busy cleaning up the aftermath of dinner.

As usual, Rin ignored Roman's displeasure and said, "For now, our current problem is that we don't have any documents or identification to speak of. It will be much easier for us to move around if we have the proper paperwork." She had her hands together under her chin, focused on what they needed to do. "Can you use any of your connections to get us what need?"

At her question, Roman sat up with renewed energy. A dastardly smile broke free from the criminal's face.

"You know, I think I might know just the guy…"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **The OCs I have made here are just minor side characters. They will not feature heavily into the plot and are basically just background characters. No one needs to worry about them taking the spotlight. This will probably be the most you'll ever see of them. I have plenty enough characters to draw from the RWBY universe.**

 **I'm really aiming for my chapters to be around 3k words long at the minimum. So expect it to be at that much with each release. That being said, It may still vary into the 10k range if the story demands it.**

 **Next chapter may take a bit of time, as I now find myself needing to refresh my memory of the RWBY timeline. So for now, please enjoy this short chapter.**

 **As always, please read and review. Also, please inform me for any discrepancies or mistakes.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some minor edits in the future.**

 **Minor edits: 9/28/2015**

* * *

"Junior! My man! How have you been?" shouted out Roman Torchwick, as he slammed the doors open of the fancy looking club he just entered. "Life been treating you well?"

Thugs dressed in the matching suits and clothing came to surround him and the provocatively black-dressed woman with him. They didn't seem intent on letting him get any closer. In fact, a lot of them seemed pretty angry at the gentlemanly dressed criminal.

"ROMAN TORCHWICK!" came an angrily loud voice.

The enslaved criminal couldn't help but smile with joy at hearing that familiar voice. He was also glad to see that most people do get his name right. Things might not have gone well for him lately, but as of right now, he was SO going to enjoy this.

"Junior!" Happily said Roman. He opened his arms wide at the mad approaching form of his fellow criminal. "It's so good to see you again."

A very annoyed bearded man in a dress shirt stood in front of Roman and Rider. Two young women where at his side. Both of whom, looked about as pleased at seeing Roman as the rest of Junior's crew.

"I can't say the same thing about you!" shouted Junior Xiong. The man still remembers what happened last time after they met. His jaw still felt a bit funny every time he had to eat something mildly hard. "Where are the men I gave you?!" he demanded.

"About that." Roman leaned in on his cane and lit his cigar. "A little girl beat them up. So I assume they've been rotting in a jail cell for a while now." He said so, nonchalantly.

"WHAT?!"

Roman had his fingers pushed in his ears. "C'mon, can we please stop with all the shouting? My ears are ringing badly enough as it is."

Junior glared angrily at Roman. The man was clearly not happy at finding out his boys had been left forgotten in a jailhouse. His surrounding henchmen seems to share his feelings because they started drawing out their weapons.

"So, aside from finally letting me know where my men are, what's really the reason for you coming here?" growled Junior dangerously.

"Well, the thing is, I paid good money for those men I hired from you." Roman looked very relaxed for someone who looked like he was about to get beaten up by the men around him. "And I must say, I'm not very satisfied with the service I got." He took his cigar and tapped the ashes from it on the floor. "I was hoping you could do something else for me to make up for it," he said so with an expectant smile.

Junior looked absolutely livid.

"You've got some nerve coming in here asking me that."

Roman only looked at him in amusement. "Oh, I'm not asking. I _expect_ you to make it up to me. There is no room for negotiation on this," he stated clearly.

The room was dangerously silent for a moment. Junior and his men were momentarily stunned at just how Roman was looking down on them. Their confusion was quickly replaced by bloodlust, and they moved in closer towards Roman.

"And If I refuse?" growled Junior. "Are you, and that woman you have there, going to make me?"

Roman laughed at that. His cigar almost fell out of his mouth from trying to settle his laughter. This only further increased the annoyance of those surrounding him.

"Oh no, I'm a bit too tired for that really," he answered before he motioned his head towards the blind-folded Servant with him. "Miss Rider here will be the one you're dealing with. As for me, I'm just going to find a nice comfy chair here to sit back and relax before you decide to cooperate with us."

The long purple-haired beauty, who had remained motionlessly by Roman's side during the entire conversation, finally moved in front of him to face Junior.

Now it was Junior's turn to laugh. "Hahaha! You're really something else, aren't you?" He took out his rocket launcher bat hybrid and addressed his crew. "Get them out of my club," he ordered.

Two of the thugs moved to grab Rider, only to be quickly knocked back heavily against the rest of Junior's men, resulting in half a dozen people groaning on the floor. Everyone else could only see Rider lower her raised leg back on the ground and take a relaxed stance, waiting for anymore takers.

Junior looked from the collapsed forms of his men, to Rider, and then finally on Torchwick, who just smiled and winked at him.

"Just call out to me when you guys are done," said Roman. He casually strolled off to the bar, going through the gap from the pile of henchmen on the ground, and sat on a chair to pour himself a drink. "Take your time. I'm in no rush."

Furious at having Roman make a fool of him and his men, Junior opted to attack himself. He took his bat and charged Rider. "You're gonna pay for that!" He swung his bat at Rider's head, only to hit nothing but air. A foot hit him right below his chin and sent him flying towards the club wall. Once his body collided with the wall, he bounced off of it and fell face forward on the dance floor.

Having their leader incapacitated early on once again, the rest of Junior's men decided to attack Rider head on. They swung their axes and blades at Rider, trying to very hard to catch the inhumanly fast Servant. Alas, their efforts were futile.

Rider kept dodging the attacks against her easily, and with each attack, made a counter for each and every one that knocked out the thugs easily in one hit. She sidestepped a chop from a guy using an axe and grabbed him by his shirt to throw him easily across the room. Another pair of thugs were taken down by a kick to their jaws when Rider swung her legs out in wide spin while balancing herself on her hands, in a style similar to Capoeira. Bodies kept flying and there were even some that littered the dance floor.

"Hey, watch it!" said Roman, as he lowered his head to avoid being hit by a random flying thug. "Trying to enjoy my drink here." Contrary to his words, he was having a blast seeing Junior's thugs getting beaten up. Although, he was starting to get worried he may not have enough time to finish his drink.

"Miltia, take her from behind!" A girl in a white strapless dress moved in to attack Rider from the front.

"Got it, Melanie!" Another girl, this time in a red dress, readied her red and black claws to attacks Rider's back.

Rider was now being assaulted front and back from the two twins. Unfortunately for Junior's girls, the Servant had no problems keeping up with their furious attacks. She kept dodging and dodging the strikes from claws and bladed-heels of the twins for a short period of time, sometimes even blocking a few of them with her arms or legs.

While being attacked by the two girls, Rider was measuring and gauging the strength and parameters of her opponents.

'Not bad,' mused Rider. She can tell that the two were better than the other thugs. 'Their parameters are slightly higher than that of the rest here.' The speed, power, and combat ability displayed by twins was being studied closely by Rider as she kept note of their movements. The only comparison she knew of would be the same as that of reinforcement techniques that magi used to increase their physical abilities. Although, she did note that they were only similar and seemed to have more varied stats. Their endurance and durability in particular seemed a bit higher than that of normally reinforced humans, based on how her attacks were not able to severely injure any of the people she had attacked, even if she was holding back much of her strength.

Frustrated that their attacks weren't working, the red and white dressed girls began attacking more desperately, resulting in their attacks getting more sloppy and them tiring out.

Rider deemed that she had seen enough and materialized her weapon. She dodged a swipe from a claw from Melanie, and tangled it in her chain, whilst she glided behind the girl. The claw user swung her other claw behind her to try and catch Rider, but found that her target was gone. Rider had already gone next to the other twin and had wrapped the same chain around her as well.

When Rider pulled on her chain, it resulted in the twins slamming their bodies together. She pulled harder on the chain and sent the two flying towards the bar Roman was at. The two girls smashed straight into the cabinet behind the bar with a crash, sending broken bottles of alcohol spilling onto the floor.

Roman looked over the bar with a raised drink in his hand and saluted, "Ladies, so nice of you to join me." The two women could only lie on the floor to groan in response. He took one last gulp of his drink to finish it and looked back at the aftermath.

"Wow…," he whistled.

Rider was standing in the exact same position Roman had left her. The blind-folded Servant had never moved away from her spot during the entire fight. There wasn't even a bead of sweat on her after the entire ordeal.

"I'm impressed," said Roman. "This went better than I expected."

The dangerous beauty only looked at him mutely, not uttering a single word. He could pretty much guess what she thought of him.

Roman tried to assuage his silent companion and said, "Now don't be such a downer. We'll get what we came here for." And in the corner of his eye, he could see someone silently crawling away to escape.

Junior was slowly crawling his way out of his club. "I am not dealing with this again," he mumbled quietly to himself, as he moved past the unconscious bodies of his henchmen.

Suddenly, a chain wrapped around his neck and pulled him up. He could only grab at the chain on his neck pulling him and saw the blind-folded woman holding it behind him. While in front of him, the barrel of a cane was pointed at him by Roman Torchwick.

"Now, now. We weren't thinking of trying to escape now, were we?"

"Wouldn't… dream… of it," choked out Junior.

"Good," smiled Torchwick. He put aside his cane as he stepped close to Junior. "Now about that refund…"

"You… never said-,"

"Well, with the way your service has treated me," cut off Roman. "I think I'm entitled to my money back." He had a sly smile on his face as he said so. "Wouldn't you say so?" he said, as he aimed his cane right between Junior's eyes.

The cornered man could only nod his head in agreement.

"That's what I thought," said Roman. "Now about that request." He put away his cane and leaned back against the wall. "My new employers need some official paperwork done. The 'unnoficial' official kind of paperwork," he quoted with his fingers. "You know what I mean?"

"I… I… ca..," struggled out Junior.

Roman leaned in his ears closer to him to hear what he has to say.

"I-I can't… breathe." True enough, Junior was starting to look a little too blue for Roman's liking.

Roman looked behind Junior at Rider, and tilted his head towards their captive.

The chain dissolved into small particles of light around Junior's neck, and he gasped hard for air. He fell down on his hands trying to even out his breathing.

Roman and Rider waited for the information broker to get his breath back. Once he did, he got up and addressed Roman.

"I don't know anyone personally," he said. "But there was someone who might be able to help you with that." Junior fixed his clothing and continued, "A runaway faunus from the White Fang, came to me the other day for information regarding transportation to Vacuo. From what I can gather, he already has all his fake documents in place for his trip. He was planning on living a new life with a new identity there. If you can find him and convince him, he can probably help you out with whatever paperwork you need."

"…What?" said Roman. His face showed his curiosity at what he just heard. "This faunus, is his name Tukson, by any chance?" he inquired.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

A delighted smile made its way across Roman's face. "Oh, today just keeps getting better and better!" He made his way for club's exit as he spun his cane around happily. "Really, I've never had this much luck on a job before. Time to go, Miss Rider. I believe we've got everything we came for."

Junior Xiong looked on as Roman exited his club. He turned around to find that the purple-haired woman behind him was nowhere to be seen. All that he could see was the agonized pain of his men, haphazardly placed on the floor, chairs and tables. Not to mention, the damage to his club that he just got repaired a while ago.

"I knew I should have taken that insurance…"

* * *

A bell rings, as a customer walks into a quaint little bookstore.

"Tukson's Book Trade…?" asks a girl in wearing a red turtleneck and black skirt.

A hairy man with sideburns walks up behind the counter. "That's right, home to every book under the sun," he exclaimed. "What can I do for you?"

The girl looked at the man skeptically. "Every book under the sun? Isn't that a little too much to claim?" she said.

"Hahaha, yeah. It might be a bit much but I thought it would be a nifty catchphrase," admitted the man, scratching the back of his head.

The twin-tailed haired girl move to a shelf and took out a book and opened it. "You must have quite the selection if you're trying to claim that much."

"We do have a good number in stock. Better than most definitely," he answered. "Beacon Academy is probably the only place that's got more books than I do."

"Hmmm… is that so?" said the girl, as she took a good look around the shop.

"Is there anything you're looking for in particular?"

The curious girl turned around to face the man and said, "There are a lot of things I want to read up on, true. But for now, I'm actually looking for a specific someone." She smiled at him and asked, "Are you by chance, Mr. Tukson?"

Muscles stiffened and tensed, the man tried not to show it and continued to act politely. "Yes, that would be me. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Why, yes. I do believe there is."

The bell for the shop door rings, and another person enters. A man in a white suit and bowler hat strolls towards the shop owner and customer.

"Hello there Tukson," came a playful voice. "You have no idea, just how hard it was for me to find you."

"Torchwick…," Tukson muttered under his breath. He looked at the man before him and then at the girl he was talking with. Both seemed to know each other and seemed to have already planned this encounter, based on how they were acting.

Tukson extended his retractable claws and lunged at the girl beside Torchwick. His claws stopped short a few inches away, as the girl only looked at them curiously. The reason was because a big nail-like dagger was now pressed firmly against his neck.

"Now, let's be civilized here," claimed Roman. "We only came here to talk."

"If you only wanted to talk, then why do I have nail on my throat," said Tukson, beads of sweat pouring down his temple. "In any case, I want nothing do with the White Fang anymore so you can just-,"

"Ah, ah, ah," warned Roman, wagging his finger at the faunus. "I'm not actually working with the White Fang anymore."

Tukson raised his eyebrows in surprise upon hearing that.

"And that nail on your throat is only there because you just tried to attack my new employer," smiled Roman.

The faunus turned his eyes to the girl in front of him. He found her looking innocently at him, a smile on her face. Tukson wasn't really sure what to make of her. She didn't look like anyone in the White Fang that he had ever dealt with.

"Fair enough," he grumbled. The faunus retracted his claws and backed off slowly. He could feel the nail leave the flesh of his throat as he did so. A blindfolded woman came into his view, as she strode past him and positioned herself beside Roman's new employer.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Tukson," said the smaller girl politely. "My name is Rin Tohsaka. I've heard from my new subordinate here that you might be able to help us with our current predicament."

The casualness of the situation seemed so unreal to Tukson. After all, he did almost had his throat pierced. But he did also consider that he did try and tear the girl's throat out first just now, as well.

"Y-Yeah, so what do you want?"

Rin smiled a little wider at the man and said, "We did originally plan on just paying you to just forge us some paperwork," Looking at the bookshelf next to her, she slid her fingers across the binds of books on it. "But after seeing this place and hearing from Mr. Torchtick here-,"

"It's Torchwick!" corrected Roman.

"-about your situation. I do believe we can offer you something better."

Tukson could only watch her confusedly, unaware of what she could offer him. It had already taken him months of preparation to begin his new life away from the White Fang. He was going to be leaving behind everything, including the things he cared about. There was nothing else he wanted to do but leave as soon as he can.

"How about a new chance in life?"

"…What?" Tukson was unsure of what she meant. Wasn't that exactly what he was trying to do right now? To get away from the White Fang and start a new life someplace far.

Rin saw the confusion on the faunus' face and clarified, "What I'm saying is, we can give you your life back. A life safe away from the White Fang. You don't have to go anywhere, and leave behind everything you've ever known, if you don't want to."

Tukson could only blankly stare at them. He hadn't even considered the possibility of being able to stay here in Vale without constantly worrying about the White Fang knocking on his doorstep. That would be more than he could have hoped for after he betrayed the terrorist organization.

"That's impossible…"

Roman took out his electronic scroll from his pocket and showed it to Tukson. On it, he could see detailed information about him when he was still with the White Fang. Alongside it, he could clearly see the orders to kill him for his betrayal.

"I received those orders from the higher ups not too long ago," said Roman. "It would be easy for me to claim that you've already been dealt with, and erase you from their system. Although, that is only before they find out that I betrayed them, of course, and they revoke my access."

Tukson took his gaze away from the scroll and glared at Roman. "What's the catch?" he asked suspiciously. "Aside from forging you the documents you need, what else do you want from me?" It all sounded a little too good to him and he wasn't about to jump head first from the frying pan and into the fire.

The one who answered him was Rin. "I want you to work for us."

"Work… for you?"

Rin nodded at him seriously. "It probably won't be anything special or bad like what these people from the White Fang were having you do. Most likely, you'll just end up doing mundane things like taking care of supplies and such. Really, it won't actually be that much different from what you're doing now."

Tukson looked carefully at Rin, trying to discern any lies from what she had just told him. She didn't seem to be lying from what he could tell. He really was being offered a job… no, a life where he wouldn't have to live in fear, shame, or guilt.

An honest life.

He closed his eyes shut and thought carefully. After thinking about it, he said with conviction, "Where do I sign?"

"Funny, you should mention that…"

* * *

"I'm home," said Rin Tohsaka tiredly as she entered the home of their hypnotized host. She had just finally returned after finalizing the deal with their new employee, and had to discuss the other myriad of things that they had required, such as new lodgings, clothes, and other essentials. Her future plans that she had were also taking up a lot of her time and energy.

Somewhere from the kitchen, light footsteps could be heard, and a voice calls back, "Welcome back, Neesan."

Sakura Matou walks out into the hall with a tray of drinks. "I thought you would like something to drink while you relax in the garden."

Rin happily agreed to that, "Thanks, Sakura. That sounds wonderful."

The two sisters settled in comfortably on the chairs in Mr. Chen's small garden. They each held a steaming cup of tea, and just sat quietly enjoying the nice mood.

"So where are Shirou and the rest?" asked Rin after a few minutes of peaceful silence.

"Senpai took Illya and Saber out with him to shop for more groceries," answered Sakura. "It's really helpful that we finally have some money to pay back Mr. Chen and pay for our own food. As for the faunus, I'm not exactly sure where they went."

"You don't have to worry about them. I had called them earlier and told them to meet up with Rider and Roman to get their paperwork setup. Once everyone else gets here, we'll have to do the same."

"I see," silently answered Sakura.

After taking a few more sips of their cups, Sakura straightened her posture and gave her sister a determined look.

"W-What is it, Sakura?" said Rin. The sudden change in the atmosphere surrounding her sister had caught her off guard.

"Neesan…," said Sakura strongly. "I know about you and Senpai…"

There was only one thing that came to the Jewelcraft user's mind of what her sister meant. "…Sakura," whispered out Rin. "It's not what you think. We only did what we had to because Saber was going to-,"

"I know," answered Sakura. "I already know and understand the reason why you and Shirou-senpai did it. He told me while you were gone."

'That traitor!' thought Rin. 'When he gets back, I'll be sure to thoroughly punish him for not waiting like I told him to.' A vow of severe consequence made itself felt across the world.

In the shopping district of the City of Vale, a white-haired man had cold shivers running up his spine as he was busy selecting groceries. His Mind's Eye ability was telling him that he had less than 1% chance of avoiding his ill premonitions.

"He also told me of some of the memories he received from Archer," said Sakura.

Rin looked a bit puzzled at that. She remembered that Shirou was saying somethings about Archer's memories having different past events overlapping and other things but she hadn't really fully heard of all of it yet from him.

Sakura continued on, "He told me how he had loved you… how he still loves you… both you and Saber."

"What…?" said a dumbfounded Rin. The boy she had secretly liked for so long, ever since seeing him stubbornly attempt to finish a high jump, had said that he loves her. This caused her heart to skip a few beats.

"Shirou said he loves you, Neesan…," repeated Sakura. "I also know… that both you and Saber love him as well." Her gaze now felt more intense to Rin as she said so.

"W-What are you talking about?!" stammered Rin. Her face was flushed and her eyes seemed dazed at the accusation. "I-I don't feel a thing for him! You're just imagining things, I would never think of trying to steal him from you!" denied the magus.

Sakura looked softly at her sister and said, "It's just like you to be still worried about me, Neesan." She shifted her gaze towards the sky. "Even though I finally realized how much you've done for me all this time, I still didn't know just how much you've actually given me." A small sad smile showed itself on the girl's face as she said so.

"Sakura…," said a worried Rin.

"It's not only you, but Saber as well. If not for the both of you, I would never have this time to be happy with Senpai." The Matou girl turned to look at her sister once more. "His life was saved because of you two. I'm really grateful to you both, Neesan."

Being thanked honestly by her sister after having done it with her lover, greatly surprised Rin.

"Aren't you angry at me?" asked Rin, who was unable to look at her sister. "After all that's happened to you, how because of me you had to endure a life being a Matou, and here I am being in love with the same person you've loved the most. Don't you hate me?" The older sister looked ashamed and sad. She still remembered everything Sakura had said to her in the cave where they fought.

"Neesan," said Sakura. "I do love Shirou a lot… but I also love you as well."

Rin looked a bit stunned at her sister's declaration.

"You're my precious older sister. When I almost killed you back in that cave, I don't know if I could have gone on if you had died. You're the only family I have left." Tears were now falling from Sakura's eyes.

Rin went over to Sakura and grabbed her hands gently. "That's not true Sakura. It wasn't your fault about what happened, and I would never die leaving you like that," she boldly said so. "Also, it's not just me now. You have Shirou, and the others as family now as well." What she said, made her sister smile.

"Thank you, Neesan."

"Like you said, I'm your older sister. It's what I do." Rin said so with pride.

Sakura rubbed off her tears and finally gave her sister a really happy smile.

It looked like the two are finally able to move forward with each other. Their strained relationship had finally mended enough somewhat for them to feel closer to each other.

After the heartwarming moment, both sisters decided to pour themselves another cup of tea to help ease themselves.

The younger sister paused in sipping her tea and asked, "…So what days would you like to have Senpai, Neesan?"

Tea flew out of the older sister's mouth, and she coughed harshly after inhaling quite a bit of it. She was pounding her lungs while trying to hold on to her chair for support.

"W-What?!" she exclaimed, once she got her breath back.

"I mean, I know I'm fine with sharing Senpai and all," blushed Sakura. "But doing it together… I don't think I'm ready for that yet."

Rin could only look at her sister with her mouth agape. Various thoughts of what had been implied were quickly moving through her mind. Each thought turning her redder by the second.

Sakura hadn't seemed to notice because she herself was blushing while looking and holding tightly to her skirt. "I know you and Saber are fine with it, Neesan. But could you please give me some more time to mentally prepare myself."

"S-S-Sakura!" stammered out Rin. "Can we please talk about something else?! I don't think I can think clearly enough to give you an appropriate answer right now."

Thankfully for Rin, her sister seemed just as uncomfortable with the subject as her. Though thinking about it, she wasn't entirely sure how her sister made her out to be fine with Saber. That idea only served to increase Rin's feeling of being misunderstood somehow.

To change the subject about themselves, Rin decided to ask, "So what about Shirou? Have you told him about this yet?"

"Yes. I've told him I was fine with him loving you and Saber but I haven't really told him specifically about sharing him yet."

Rin looked slightly amazed at her sister. "You're really going to let him off that easy?"

Sakura gave her sister a smile, one that looked slightly the same as that time when she had been corrupted by 'All the World Evil' and said, "Oh, I've decided to ask Senpai to do one thing for me that he could absolutely never refuse."

That sinister smile gave Rin bad memories but still made her give an approving smile of her own back at her sister. It was at moments like this that she could feel how similar they really were as sisters.

Meanwhile… at the shopping district.

Shirou had dropped both bags of groceries he had in his hands. He was desperately looking everywhere for signs of danger, as the cold chills he had earlier had now turned into freezing ice on his skin. Saber and Illya could only watch confusedly at his strange behavior, not knowing what in the world was wrong with him.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I am really annoyed by my writing speed. It's taking me quite some time to get this all out. I really really want to go on to the good parts already. That would be bad of me to write those parts now though because it will affect the earlier parts of the story.**

 **Anyways, please read and review. I really want to know what people think of the writing and the story for now. I'm not too confident in the way I describe the action scenes and whatnot. It would also help me when I edit stuff out and fix some parts of the story.**

 **You can also check my profile for updates (such as my progress, if I decide to stop, delay, or just unable to continue writing due to life problems or whatever). I'll try to inform everyone of my status unless I die.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

 **Hello everyone! It's time for the debut of Team RWBY!**

* * *

"C'mon Weiss, hurry up! I really wanna try this place out."

"Calm down Ruby. It's not like they're going to run out of food."

Two Huntress-in-training moved briskly on the sidewalk of the City of Vale's commercial district. The smaller girl with a red hood skips along excitedly, while the girl in white tries to keep up with her.

"Not all of us has a Semblance of speed, you know?" said Weiss.

"But I heard it's their grand opening. They might not have enough tables!" whined Ruby.

"Easy there little sister," a long yellow-haired girl comes up behind the two, along with her black-haired partner. "They're not gonna run out of tables."

"But Yang! What if they do? I reaaaallly wanna try their desserts."

The older sister answered, "Well, we could always come back next time."

"I'm fine with next time," agreed Weiss. "I don't think I like the idea of going someplace crowded right now."

Ruby looked at her partner with disbelief. "But you promised!" she pouted.

"She's right, you know. You did promise her that it would be your treat," said their black-haired and bow wearing companion at Weiss. "Didn't you insist on it, to make up for the way you had acted?"

The Schnee heiress let out a defeated sigh. Saying no to Ruby's pleading face felt like she might as well kick a puppy in the street, and it really wasn't becoming of her to renege on a promise, especially after putting their leader through a tough time because of her being unable to accept the roles they were given. After all, didn't she already decide to be the best person she can be.

"Okay, okay. We're going."

Ruby hugged her partner in triumph. "You won't regret this Weiss. I heard they had really great service there."

'I'm already regretting this…' thought Weiss, uneasy at being hugged by the leader of their team.

After a few minutes, the four students arrive in front of a packed restaurant. There were many different people that were eating and chatting happily, while a select few were busy reading books on their tables.

This place was a recently opened restaurant and café that had a generous amount of books available for their customers to read from, while they enjoy a meal or drink. That was not their only selling point. The elaborate attire of the staff also helped raise the visual appeal of the shop.

"Welcome to Radix Book Café!" greeted a raccoon-eared faunus.

Ruby and her team were mildly surprised to see a faunus dressed in maid clothing greeting them.

"How many people are in your group?" asked the faunus maid.

"Table for four please," said Ruby. There were sparkles in her eyes as she stared at the maid. "That outfit is so cute!"

"Thank you," smiled the faunus, happy to be praised. "It's really quite nice and comfortable to move in, even though it looks very fancy." She made a small twirl to let them see the elaborate uniform.

"For a maid outfit, it certainly does look nice," admitted Weiss, as she carefully eyed the costume. She had seen more than her fair share of maid clothing from her family's own servants, and she could tell that the design and material used were pretty good.

The café had handmade maid and butler costumes used by their serving staff. It helped in giving the place a unique feel along with their numerous selection of books.

"Would the veranda be okay?" asked the maid faunus.

The group nodded their heads in agreement. Their maid guided them to their table and left them menus for them to browse. It had plenty of normal dishes you would find in most other café's and restaurants. But it also seemed to have a few unique dishes here and there.

"Mapo Tofu?" read Weiss out loud.

"I wouldn't recommend that," said a maid with violet hair and eyes. "I think it's really too spicy to eat."

She made modest bow to greet them and said, "My name is Sakura, and I will be taking your orders today."

Team RWBY looked up from their menus to see that their waitress is a beautiful young human woman about their age. She too was wearing a maid outfit similar to the first one. Although, the chest area seemed to be a bit tighter on her.

Yang was intrigued by the warning. "Spicy you say? Sounds like that's right up my alley! One order of Mapo Tofu for me please!"

The maid's smile cringed a little but she still wrote the order down, albeit a bit reluctantly.

"It comes with a glass of milk. If you need more, please don't hesitate to ask," said Sakura to Yang before addressing everyone else. "Is everyone else ready to order or would all of you like a little bit more time?"

"I'll have the grilled cheese sandwich and a soda, please," said Ruby, waving a raised hand in the air.

"Tuna salad for me and a glass of milk," softly answered Blake.

"I'd like to order the Wholetail Scampi and iced tea," said Weiss.

Their waitress quickly wrote down the orders and retrieved their menus. She politely repeated their orders to them for a final check and left them alone soon after.

"Well, she was nice," said Yang.

Everyone else nodded their heads in agreement.

"I told you this place had pretty good service," smiled Ruby.

"It's nice to see someplace that actually seems to treat faunus and humans equally," commented Blake. She was busy looking carefully at the staff and noted that they had more than several faunus working diligently. "It's still not uncommon for faunus to be discriminated against, and have a hard time finding decent places to work."

Weiss huffed up a bit. "Maybe if a terrorist group like the White Fang didn't exist, people would be more willing to accept faunus openly into their employment. Certainly, better than being forced into hiring faunus just because they scared that their place might get attacked if they don't." Her face was marred by her distaste at even talking about the organization. "Of course people would find it hard to treat faunus positively because of that."

Blake took great offense at that remark. "Well, maybe if the faunus had actually been treated fairly in the first place then there wouldn't have been a need for a group like the White Fang to appear," she replied hotly.

Weiss was taken slightly taken aback by her teammate's opinion, but she quickly felt annoyed at having someone try and defend a terrorist group. "That still doesn't excuse them for all the damage and violence they've done."

The tension at Team RWBY's table was beginning to rise, as White and Black glared at each other, while arguing. Ruby and Yang could only watch meekly on the sides as their teammates stared each other down, and went back and forth with their arguments.

"What's going on, Yang?" worriedly whispered Ruby to her sister.

"I don't know but I really hope the food comes out soon," Yang whispered back. This atmosphere was really getting quite uncomfortable, and she was really _really_ feeling hungry right now.

And just before the situation was about to reach a melting point, the delicious smell of food permeated the air followed by the voice of their waitress.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. I have your orders ready." Sakura had their orders on a cart she wheeled. The steam rising from their freshly cooked food was quite a mouthwatering sight.

Sakura seemed to have noticed something amiss with her customers. "Is there something wrong?" she asked.

Weiss and Blake broke out of their stare down and quickly realized how inappropriate they were acting in public. They decided to forget about their argument for now and focus on their arriving meals.

"No, no. We were just disagreeing on something," waved off Weiss.

"Yeah," agreed Blake. "There's no problem at all." She tried to adjust her posture in her seat to calm herself down.

Sakura still looked a little bit concerned but decided that it would be rude to pry. Instead, she went back to work and placed their orders on their table. Afterwards, she told them to just call her if there was anything else they needed or if they wanted to order their desserts, before excusing herself to serve other customers.

Team RWBY's table turned terribly quiet once their waitress left.

It was not because of the awkward atmosphere from two of their teammate's argument earlier, nor was it from being stunned at the aromatic smell of the wonderful meals on their table. No. The source of the silence came from a certain dish in front of Yang that seemed to be radiating its own different kind of heat that did not seem part of a normally cooked meal. Everyone just stared at it in silence.

"I-Is that supposed to be that… red?" mumbled out Blake. She looked quite concerned looking at it, and backed herself a little bit further away.

"I wonder if it's just the heat, but it kinda looks like it's glowing too," added Weiss. She was staring at the dish curiously. "Did they add Dust to power that thing?"

Ruby looked worriedly at her sister. "Are you really sure you're going to be fine eating that, Yang?"

Yang had a cramped smile on and tried to reassure them. "O-Of course! It's going to take something a lot hotter than this to stop me!" She grabbed the spoon that came with the dish and scooped up a mouthful. The spoonful of Mapo Tofu was quickly gulped down by the yellow-haired girl.

Spoon still in her hand, Yang froze for a few seconds, causing her companions to watch her worriedly.

"See, I told you I'd be fine," she smiled at them before continuing on shoveling the possibly hotter than the sun dish into her mouth.

Her teammates let out a sigh of relief upon hearing her reassurance.

After more than half of the Mapo Tofu was eaten, Weiss noticed that Yang was eating at a rapid pace. "Aren't you eating a little too fast there, Yang?" she asked concernedly.

Ruby and Blake realized that as well, since none of them have even taken a bite out of their own meals yet.

Yang didn't seem to hear what they said and completely ignored them, while she continued on eating away at the Mapo Tofu. Her entire focus was on the dish before her. She was now noticeably sweating and her eyes were watering a little. The red colored eyes she had pretty much told her teammates what kind of state she was in.

"Uuuhm… Yang, Maybe you should stop?" pleaded Ruby. Her older sister's behavior was really starting to worry her.

Ruby's concern fell on deaf ears as Yang finally slammed her spoon on the table with a bang after eating the last of the offending meal.

Everyone else was startled by that action and looked at her intently.

Yang had her eyes tightly closed shut and her two hands balled into fists on the table. It looked like she was concentrating really hard on suppressing something.

Finally, after a few moments, she shouted while holding her throat, "GAAAAAHH! I BURN! I BURN! I BUURNNNNN!"

The rest of team RWBY frantically tried to calm their teammate down, as she continued to shout out loudly. They only managed to finally calm her down after they remembered that she was given a glass of milk to go with her meal, to which Yang quickly chugged it down.

Later, Yang was slumped on the table with an empty glass on her hand, sobbing quietly.

"There, there," said Ruby, as she gently rubbed her sister's back trying to comfort her. "It's okay, Yang. At least you won."

Yang pulled her sister tightly into a hug. "I-It was so horrible…," she cried out. "So deliciously horrible… it felt like I was in heaven and hell at the same time. I couldn't stop myself."

A glass of chocolate banana smoothie was put down in front of Yang by their waitress. "I'm really sorry. I already asked my sister not to make it too spicy, but I guess that didn't really help that much," said Sakura, looking a bit distressed at the state of one of their customer was in due to a dish she served.

"You don't have to apologize. It's her own fault since you did warn her after all," commented Weiss, offhandedly while eating. "On a different note, this Scampi is absolutely wonderful!" she exclaimed. "This is even better than what the Chefs we have at home make." The heiress tried to look as dignified as she can while eating, but she already failed to notice a piece of her food in her cheek because she was too focused on devouring her Scampi.

"The food really was good," agreed Blake. She had finished her meal earlier and was already reading a book she had procured from one of the shelves around the café.

"Thank you," said Sakura, happily. "I'll be sure to tell the cooks you enjoyed their meals." She bowed and excused herself once more.

A little bit later, Ruby and her team got desserts. They started to chat about things at Beacon and the start of their path to becoming Huntresses.

"Classes are sooo boring," moaned Ruby. "I thought we'd get to do more combat at Beacon but it's still mostly the same classes I've had at Signal."

Yang chuckled at her sister. She rubbed down her sister's hair and said, "It's not that bad, Ruby. We're still at our first year, and we'll get more combat training as we get closer to the Vytal Festival."

"You do have to admit, Professor Port's class can be a bit too much," commented Blake.

The old Huntsman's class was rarely fully awake due to his constant long winded monologues of his glory days. He discussed more about his history more than what Professor Oobleck taught, and _he_ was supposed to be teaching history.

"So the man likes to talk about his accomplishments a lot. It's not that hard to keep awake in his class," said Weiss.

Yang smirked at her. "So that wasn't you dozing off yesterday in his class?"

"I-I was just resting my eyes. They were getting dry!"

"Uh-huh." Yang didn't believe her.

Weiss really did think Professor Port was a good man and wanted to at least defend him a little. Unfortunately, being a good man didn't make one any less boring when he starts talking like an old man about how it used to be in his day. One can only keep his eyes opened for so long in that class before 15 minutes of continued monotonous talk about brushing one's hair for an award so long ago, will bring them to a heavy sleep.

"Okay," sighed Weiss. "He can be a little too into himself when he gets into it."

"I wonder when are they going to start sending us on missions? I really want to start hunting Grimm again," said Ruby.

In response, Blake opted to put her book down and say, "I heard some of the Professors talking that they might actually start sending us out earlier than they planned. Something about there being an abnormal increase in Grimm activity lately."

Yang munched down the last of her éclair and said, "Oh yeah, I heard about that too. It looks like the Grimm started getting more active ever since we started school. They said a lot of the Grimm had started gathering near the city too."

Weiss scrunched her brows in thought of that. "If that's the case, then isn't it weird that Vale hasn't received any increase in Grimm attacks lately?"

Yang just shrugged. "Beats me."

"Oooh, Oooh!" Ruby was waving her hand like she was in class. "Some of my friends from Signal told me that they heard some people from the city talking about a Huntress beating up most of the Grimm that get too close."

"That could explain it," nodded Weiss in understanding. "I wonder who they sent out?"

"Maybe I could get her autograph?" wondered Ruby

Yang couldn't help but smile at her little sister. "Really, Ruby. You should stop being such a fangirl," she teased. "You're going to become a Huntress yourself, aren't you?"

Ruby frowned at her sister's teasing. "This and that are two different things, Yang." Although, she had to quietly admit to herself that asking all of their Professors for their autograph might have been a tad too much, even if she was ecstatic that they agreed well enough.

"Well, if things keep going the way they are, maybe they won't have to cancel our field trip with Professor Peach to Forever Fall," said Blake.

They had been told in advance by the Professor that depending on just how active the Grimm where in the area, they might have to postpone or completely cancel their trip. The Professor will then just give them written assignments about the effects of the red sap on Rapier Wasps.

"That would really bum out Nora," stated Ruby. "For some reason, she's really excited to go there."

Weiss drank the last of her iced tea before saying haughtily, "Well, field experience is a valuable asset in becoming a Huntress. It really won't do if all our training are limited to the confines of the academy. After all, actual combat is completely different from mock battles."

She looked around to check if everyone else was finished the last of their desserts and drinks before asking, "Everyone done? As much as I enjoyed our little team bonding experience, we really should be getting back. We've still got that assignment Professor Oobleck assigned on faunus and human war reparations."

Everyone nodded their consent.

Weiss looked around for their waitress but couldn't find her, so she just voiced out, "Waitress! Check please!"

A different maid showed in response.

"My apologies," she said, while bowing. "Sakura is currently helping out in kitchen due to the influx of orders."

The maid had long purple hair that reached out almost to her heels. She wore glasses that made her appear like a cool older beauty similar to their Professor Goodwitch. While not unfriendly, her tone of voice was more professional than that of the other maids they met. What was too much, however, was just how beautiful the woman looked. Her beauty seemed so divine and unreal.

"My name is Medusa," said the maid. "I'll be sure to return with your check shortly."

Weiss was momentarily stunned by her appearance before stammering, "N-No problem. We can wait."

Their new maid bowed once more before leaving them to retrieve their check.

"Wow." Yang watched the figure of the maid carefully as she left. "All the girls here are really high-spec. She's really _nice_ too." A mildly lecherous grin appeared on her face.

Weiss looked at her in apprehension. "Is that what you meant when you called Sakura nice too?!"

"What? Can't a girl appreciate another girl's body?" Yang defended.

"No! At least not like the way you're doing it!" replied Weiss, testily.

"C'mon, Weiss. The beauty of the female form is nothing to be shamed about," claimed Yang. Her eyes giving Weiss a once over, looking only a little bit longer on her chest. "I'm sure you're still in your growing phase. You probably won't get as big as me or those two maids, but you'll still be a beauty in your own right."

Weiss saw her looking at her chest and covered it with her hands, while glaring angrily at her. "Don't you _dare_ look at me with those same eyes," she threatened.

Yang only grinned wider at her.

Ruby only looked confusedly at the two. "What are you guys talking about?"

"I think it's best if you just ignored them, Ruby," sighed Blake. "You're still a little too young for that kind of talk."

In a minute, their maid came back with their check, and Weiss promptly paid for all of it. For the quality of food and service, the price was relatively cheap, it wasn't all that different compared to some of the other regular restaurants in Vale.

"I really like that place," said Ruby, while all of them were walking. "We should make it our regular hangout spot when we're off from school."

"I wouldn't say no to that," smiled Yang.

"The food was very good," thought Weiss seriously. "I wonder if my family would be interested in hiring them out."

Ruby frowned at that. "Weiss! Don't think of hogging them all to yourself!"

"It was just a thought," she mumbled meekly.

"They also do have a really nice selection of books to read," added Blake. She had thoughts of maybe going there by herself sometime to find a sequel to a certain book she had. Maybe she could ask them to loan it to her if possible since she doubted the Beacon Academy Library would carry such a book.

"That settles it then!" declared Ruby, enthusiastically. "Radix Book Café is Team RWBY's new hangout in Vale!"

* * *

At the end of the day, the staff of Radix Book Café are cleaning up after the store's grand opening. It was quite a busy first day, which proved how promising their new business was going to be. There were many happy customers that were quite satisfied with their food and service. The faunus staff also seemed to easily adapt to their new work as well.

In the kitchen, Sakura came up to report the day's work to her sister after making sure that all the cleaning outside was done.

"It looks like today was a success, Neesan."

Rin looked up from washing the utensils at the proud look of her younger sister.

"That's good," she nodded, sagely. "We'll need to able blend in with the masses, if we want to live peacefully here." She took a towel to dry her hands. "How were the customers?"

"Everyone was completely happy with us," answered Sakura. "Although, there was a problem with a customer after eating that Mapo Tofu you made." She looked remorseful at remembering the earlier incident. "I told you it was too spicy to eat, Neesan. I don't think we should really be serving something like that."

Rin reluctantly nodded her head at that. "I-It can't be helped. That rotten priest was the one who taught me how to make it. While I never actually wanted to eat it myself, he always said it was one of the only things in the world that moved his heart, so I thought having it as a special would be okay." Now that she thought about it, something that could actually move that monster's heart would probably have been anything _but_ normal.

Sakura looked around the kitchen anticipating someone else to be there.

"Neesan? Where did Senpai go? Wasn't he just here cooking earlier?"

"Oh, he left a while ago once there were less customers, to help Saber clear out those Grimm at that place called Forever Fall," replied Rin.

Sakura was confused by this. "Isn't that place far away enough from here that those Grimm wouldn't be much of a threat?"

Rin nodded at her in agreement. "Yes, but there's something I want to test in that area, and for that to happen, I need a certain amount of space there to work on without getting harassed by those things." She displayed a mischievous sense of glee that could only appear whenever she thinks of gaining money. "If this works out, we may be able to increase our income as well."

Sakura smiled in unease at thinking about what her older sister has planned.

* * *

Inside a large old warehouse somewhere in the City of Vale, a meeting was taking place. Members of the White Fang can be seen briskly working throughout the entire place. They were busy with their preparations and organizing their tasks, as a woman stood impatiently in a corner of the building in front of one of the faunus there.

"Well? Have you found out anything?" she asked, impatiently.

"N-No, Ma'am," muttered the faunus nervously. "We haven't heard from him at all since he disappeared with a bunch of those new recruits to raid some more Dust shops."

Cinder Fall narrowed her eyes dangerously at the faunus in front of her, causing him to stiffen his posture.

"It's been weeks now, and are you telling me you don't have a single clue as to where he might be?"

The faunus hesitated before nodding his head slowly.

Cinder closed her eyes trying to stem her anger. Their plans will need to be delayed and adjusted to accommodate for a missing piece, and this is causing her more grief than she had anticipated.

After saying nothing for almost forever to the nervous faunus, Cinder exhaled and said, "Very well. You're dismissed. Do whatever else it is you do." Turning her back on the faunus and waving him off to look at a map of the city posted on a wall near her.

"So I guess he decided to bail on us, huh?" said a feminine voice.

Cinder turned to find her associate Emerald Sustrai and her partner Mercury Black walking up to her.

"We don't know that," answered Cinder. "Roman maybe a sleazebag but he's not the type who'd bail out on a lucrative business venture like the one we offered him."

Mercury rolled his eyes at that. "That guy only looks out for himself. If he managed to find out more than he was supposed to, I doubt he'd stick around long enough to wait until we've dealt with him."

Cinder frowned at that. She was fairly sure that Roman had no idea on just what their plans were, aside from his current assignment of stealing as much Dust as he can with the White Fang. But if he did manage to figure out the rest of their plans…

"Both of you only need to obey, not to think," she pointed out to them. "I'll smooth things out. Do you understand?"

Both Mercury and Emerald nodded obediently.

Cinder turned away from them and dismissed them. She needed to fix their current predicament first so that the next phases of their plan can proceed without any more hiccups. Worrying about what to do about Roman Torchwick, she can do that later.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Really hope I didn't mess up the personalities too much of Team RWBY. If you find anything lacking, do please inform me.**

 **In case anyone's wondering, this is set after The Badge and The Burden.**

 **Next chapter may focus on Team JNPR and possibly Saber, she hasn't really gotten as much screen time as the rest of the Fate cast since her appearance. That really won't do, since she is one of the most fave characters in the series.**

 **As always, please read and review.**

 **You can check my profile for updates.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

 **I lied. There is no Team JNPR in this chapter. But there is someone else...**

* * *

"What news have we from the recent increase on Grimm activity around Vale?"

Headmaster Ozpin was currently sitting in a chair, nursing a fresh brew of his favorite drink. A plate of cookies was laid out on his table for him and his companions.

Glynda Goodwitch was sitting to his right with a scroll in her hand, browsing through the various reports coming from around the city. "It looks like the reports are fairly accurate in their assessment. There has been a large amount of Grimm packs migrating towards the city, one of the highest amount recorded in Vale's history."

"This is troubling news indeed," said Professor Oobleck, a man with messy green hair and a disheveled appearance, who was across the table from Ozpin. "This is most unusual. I've not seen any disturbance around the city that would warrant an appearance of so many Grimm." He was drinking from his own personal mug that he always carried. "Might you have any idea as to how this came about?" he asked Ozpin.

Ozpin shook his head at him. "I'm sorry to say that I'm as clueless as the rest of us as to why this has happened."

"I see," nodded Oobleck in thought.

"There hasn't really been any problems from it though," said Glynda, as she put down her scroll to take a sip of her tea. "From what we can tell from the reports, most of the Grimm seems to be reluctant on getting too close to the city. Apparently, someone has been culling the herd, so to speak, as whenever any of the packs move too close to the city's borders, they appear to get wiped out. Eyewitness accounts state that they saw what appeared to be a woman fighting off Grimm near the city."

Grimm activity has been at one of Vale's recorded highest since the city's establishment. Normally, this would also mean an increase in the frequency of attacks. Besides the older ones, most Grimm will attack all humans indiscriminately regardless of the danger to themselves.

"A Huntress then?" offered Oobleck. "Must be quite skilled if she's been the only one fighting all those Grimm by herself."

"Strange," mused Ozpin. "I don't remember receiving reports from any of the Huntresses in Vale about such an important matter."

Glynda nodded at that. "We're not quite sure, as we have no reports of anyone else doing so and we have no idea who the woman is. They were unable to give us a good description of the woman in question because it all happened during the dark of the night." She picked up her scroll once more and tapped on it a few times to read more reports. "While there have been no further sightings of the woman, there has been plenty of signs of various degree of damage to the surroundings left where Grimm were known to be seen. It would seem that this is the cause for the Grimm giving our borders a wide berth."

Ozpin thought carefully about that. This situation was quite strange indeed for him. The rise in numbers of Grimm in the area and an unknown woman exterminating them. Really, something an odd sort of occurrence.

"Hmmm… what do you make of this, Peter?" he asked another of his companions to his side.

"Mffouh?" Professor Port looked up at the rest of them with a mouthful of cake, as he was currently busy devouring his strawberry shortcake. He quickly swallowed and washed eat down with some of his tea before answering, "I do believe... that this is the best cake I've ever eaten since my grandmother passed away years ago!"

Glynda shook her head and just sighed at his answer.

"Really," continued Port. "I must say just how delicious this is. Why, if there was ever a need to-" he blathered on and on, much to his audience's dismay. It was doubtful if he would have ever stopped anytime soon. Fortunately, someone's arrival near their table saved the rest of the Professor's from having to find out.

"Would you like any more refills, dear customers?" said a maid with black twin-tailed hair.

Glad for her timely arrival, Glynda took the chance quickly. "Why, yes please."

Everyone else agreed as well.

"Could I trouble you for another one of this cake to go, my dear?" said Port to the maid.

"Of course, sir," she bowed and took her leave.

The group of Professors decided to take in the flavor of their freshly poured drinks. All of them sighed contentedly after having a taste.

"This place really is quite the find you've discovered Headmaster," said Port.

"Yes, I must agree that they certainly have a unique and overall pleasant service here," added Oobleck. "Not only are there menus diverse but so are the staff." He seemed quite impressed at having seen no sign of discrimination or negative interactions among the human and faunus staff.

Ozpin denied finding this gem of a store. "Truthfully, I've only overheard about this place from some of our students. They seemed to have had a rather high opinion of this place and I thought it would serve well to discuss our current matters here."

"They weren't wrong," nodded Glynda, as she took another sip of her tea. "I find it hard to find a place that could serve me tea so perfectly done as this one." She savored the aroma coming from her cup.

"And the food is just marvelous," said Port. He had ordered more food earlier and was now already on his dessert.

The Professors had followed Ozpin's earlier recommendation and headed out to the city to discuss current events. Their group was quietly settled in a homely corner of the shop, away from prying ears. The mood was quite warm and relaxed regardless of the seriousness of their meeting, due to the quality of their food and drinks.

"We should take James here, once he arrives from Atlas," said Ozpin to Glynda.

"Ironwood?" questioned Glynda. "He won't be here until the start of the 2nd semester, right?"

Ozpin smiled a little. "On the contrary, It would seem he's scheduled to arrive earlier than he'd planned on. He said that he'll be here soon, and before most of his entourage."

Glynda frowned slightly at that. She was unable to decide if meeting up with their old friend made her happy or mad. "And pray tell what's gotten him all up and in a hurry to be here?"

"I'm not really sure," answered Ozpin. "Our recent increase in Grimm activity might have had something to do with it."

Port looked up from his tea somewhat puzzled at them. "There's been an increase in Grimm activity?"

All together, his companions just sighed at him.

* * *

Somewhere in the city streets of Vale, a little girl with long white hair and crimson eyes can be seen walking merrily down the street. She was wearing a collared, purple long-sleeved shirt with a light purple scarf to match, a long white skirt and purple boots. The little girl looked quite pleased and happy with herself.

"Finally! I managed to get out and take a break," she smiled to herself, while stretching her arms up. "Rin can really be a slave driver. She should know there are laws against child labor," complained Illyasviel von Einzbern. The homunculus neglected the fact that she was actually older than said magus in her thinking.

Since their arrival here in this new world, Illya had been constantly ordered around by Rin lately to help out with her experiments and such. She had barely gone outside of their new home besides going to her own workshop, and that time she went shopping with Saber and Shirou. It simply became a little too unbearable for someone like her to be cooped up for so long, when a whole new world was there for her to explore.

Earlier that day, after taking a break in her workshop while looking at the ceiling, she remembered the first time she came to Japan for the Holy Grail War. How much new and exciting everything was for her and how she met her Oniichan while he had been shopping. She smiled at that really fun memory for her.

It was then that she decided that she deserved a day off after working so hard, so she snuck out by herself to explore the city. She was really fortunate that all of her companions were busy with their new business and fighting those Grimm to notice her presence gone. She wasn't planning on being gone for long anyway, so it should be fine.

"Waah!" she exclaimed happily. "It's so nice and warm out." The little magus twirled around and skipped joyfully seemingly in whatever direction she wanted. She looked at all the stores and various people that caught her fancy, bouncing around and giggling like any normal little girl.

Momentarily distracted from watching a passing airship above, Illya failed to notice her walk into someone's back.

"Ooof-" Illya fell down on her butt after bumping into someone. "Owww," she painfully let out while rubbing her nose. It felt like she just bumped into a wall.

"Salutations, citizen!" greeted the wall.

Illya blanked momentarily at that, finding it weird for a wall to be greeting her. She rubbed her eyes and focused them to see what appeared to be a girl in front of her with short, rather curly orange hair and a pink bow on the back of her head.

It seems the girl finally realized that Illya was in pain and asked concernedly, "Are you okay, citizen?"

"I'm fine," answered Illya, while she stood up and dusted herself off. "I'm sorry for bumping into you like that," she apologized. "I guess I wasn't really paying attention to where I was walking."

The girl gave another smile at Illya, once she saw that the little magus really was fine. "It is no trouble at all!" she declared. "I'm made of more durable material to be damaged from something such as that." The strange girl stood proudly as she said so.

'This girl is a little weird…,' thought Illya. She hadn't really known much people in this world yet but she still can't help but feel that something was off with the girl in front of her.

"My name is Penny. It is a pleasure to meet you," smiled the girl enthusiastically. "And how are you today, in this fine weather?"

"Uh… I'm doing very well?" confusedly answered Illya.

"That is wonderful!"

"Thank… you?"

While looking happily at Illya, the orange-haired girl changed her expression into one of curiosity as she seemed to realize something. "May I ask if you are alone?" she asked.

'Not good…' thought Illya. She had just now realized how it must look for someone like a young little girl like her to be walking the streets alone without anybody else to watch over her. What's more, Rin had already warned her not to use hypnotism on just anyone since it seems that people with Aura are able to defend against it somewhat. Nonetheless, it really wouldn't do if she was brought back home like a lost little child and Rin found out about it. The embarrassment would kill her, and Rin would definitely never let it go. That Jewelcraft user would torment her about it every chance she could get for the rest of her life.

Quickly trying to come up with something on the spot, Illya stammered, "I-I'm with a friend!"

The taller girl looked around them to see if anyone else was with them, but as far as she could tell, they were the only two around. She tilted her head in puzzlement at Illya. "Really? Where is your friend then? I do not see anyone else here but the two of us."

Illya was now slightly panicking. 'Think, think, think, think!' she thought to herself. "You!" she pointed at the girl. "You're my friend!" the homunculus declared. 'Curses!'

"…"

"I'm actually new in town and don't really have any friends to walk around with me, so I'd really like it if you'd be friends with me."

"…"

Illya felt her shoulders slump heavy and resigned herself to the humiliation she would no doubt endure. She could already see Rin's smug face laughing at her now. It looks like her outing would be cut short and end in disaster for her. No one would believe that poor excuse she had just said.

"Really?! You want to be my friend?!" asked the peppy girl, joyfully.

"Eh?"

"You said you wanted to be my friend, right?" The girl was now holding Illya's hands together with hers, and had her face a bit too close to Illya's.

"O-Of course!" answered Illya, mildly uncomfortable with the close proximity. 'Wow… she actually bought it.'

"Sensational!" Penny shouted out in glee. "We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

"Uuuuhh…" Illya could only look dumbfounded at what was happening.

"…Wait," Penny looked carefully once more at Illya. "I think you might be a little too young for some of those…"

That was blatantly obvious, considering Illya looked like a 10 year old.

"I guess we'll just do something else then," said Penny. "Oh! Oh! This is so wonderful! I finally have a friend!"

That last statement broke Illya out of her trance. She curiously asked, "You've never had a friend before?"

Penny nodded in response.

Suddenly, Illya was beset with memories of her own time in a large castle of her family's lands. Always waiting for her father to come back to her, until she ultimately gave up on him. How much pain and suffering she had dealt with just to one day bring vengeance upon the adopted son of her father. She had no friends in that horrible place. There were only servants and the cruel teachings of her grandfather with their heritage. A lonesome life with not a single friend.

Illya composed herself, trying to shake of those memories. That was in the past. Another time, another place, and another world. It's different this time. She had Shirou and the rest as her family now, and maybe she can finally have friends as well… starting with the girl in front of her.

"Uhmm… Penny?" she smiled, to which the other girl nodded in response. "Is it also your first time here?"

"Why, yes. I have only recently arrived here in Vale so I am still familiarizing myself with the area."

"That's great! We can go around exploring while getting to know each other then."

Penny blinked at that suggestion. "That would be a splendid idea! Having a friend to talk to while mapping out the area would certainly be preferable to doing it alone."

Illya was glad that her new friend was quite agreeable with her. She'd never thought that she could walk around leisurely with a friend before. The again, having one's life shortened really did tend to lower one's viewpoint in life experiences.

Realization hit Illya, as she just now remembered that she hasn't introduced herself yet to her new friend. That simply won't do.

She straightened her clothing and posture before looking toward Penny.

"I would like to properly introduce myself to you, Penny," she curtsied in a way only a noble could, with grace and dignity. "I am Illyasviel von Einzbern. It's my pleasure to be your first friend, and you be my first friend."

Penny was surprised at her friend's introduction, but she smiled happily and copied the Einzbern magus. She curtsied as well and said, "Likewise Illyasviel, you can just call me Penny."

Illya beamed a smile at her. "Since we're friends, you can just call me Illya."

"Illya it is then!" said Penny.

Raising her fist to the air, Illya shouted out firmly, "Alright then! It's time for us to explore Vale!"

"Exploration ready!" chimed in Penny, as she stood beside Illya while copying her.

* * *

In a forest of red-leafed trees, sounds of combat emanate from deep within. Numerous Grimm corpses are scattered on the ground slowly dissipating, as the howls and roars of more of the remaining creatures echo throughout the area.

Grimm are congregating around a particular spot of the forest. At the center are two of the three Knight classes of the Holy Grail War, Archer and Saber. They stood back to back, cutting down Grimm left and right every time they got near.

Archer wielded Kanshou and Bakuya with precision, slicing off heads with ease. He dodged and weaved through half a dozen Beowolves that charged him all at once, while cutting them apart with his monster slaying twin swords. The creatures tried to attack him every time he showed an opening, only to be met every single time with the steel of his blades.

On Saber's side of the battle, Ursa's of varying size faced the King of Knights. The bear creatures looked incredibly ferocious compared to the small figure of the girl before them. Their bulk and strength would certainly make them more than a match for any normal humans. They roared as one at their opponent, who merely stood her ground, unflinching at their display.

The largest of the Ursa's charged towards her on all four appendage, determined to ram her with all his strength. Saber gripped her invisible blade tighter with both hands, then in a single stroke, cleaved the beast in half as it entered her sword's range. She once more readied her stance, waiting for the rest of the Grimm to attack.

She didn't have to wait long, as the death of their comrade enraged the remaining Grimm into a frenzied attack towards her. Their savage headlong attack only served to hasten their end. Saber's invisible sword became a whirlwind of strikes all around her at the attacking horde, tearing them apart no matter how large they were. At the stop of her blade, only she was left standing, surrounded by the dissipating pieces of her foes.

After making sure that all of her opponents were finished, Saber let out a breath to relax herself.

"I see you're still not holding back."

Saber looked at the approaching figure of the Archer class Servant. A warm smile appeared on her face at seeing the tall figure of the person she cared for the most.

"In battle, there is no room for leniency," answered Saber. "I will show no mercy to my opponents, for I shall receive none in return, especially against monsters such these," she gestured toward the strewn bodies of Grimm.

"True," nodded Shirou, seriously. "Now that I have Archer's memories, I can truly understand now most of what you've taught me in the past. All those battles he fought… many a place was left desolate and barren with the dead." Shirou frowned at those memories.

Saber felt a pang of guilt at that. She too had seen some of Archer's memories due to the unexpected summoning she had experienced here.

"Shirou," she said softly, as she grabbed his arm gently. She looked at him before turning away her gaze. "Is it my fault that you turned out that way? Was I not capable enough, or did I just choose to ignore that which I too had felt about my own circumstance was obviously the same for you as well."

There was doubt in the King's mind, as she could remember well that it was her ideal that brought her into contact with her Master. A similar ideal, that had she fulfilled, would have turned her into one of Alaya's Counter Guardians. It was understandable that she may blame her existence for the ultimate end her loved one turned up as.

Shirou saw the pained expression on Saber's face. He grabbed her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes. "Saber, you did nothing wrong. Actually, you did more for me than I could have possibly ever deserved. What happened to me was something that would have occurred, even if I had ended up with a different Servant from that time."

Saber blinked in surprise at Shirou's firm denial, before blushing at being too close together.

Shirou smiled warmly at the girl. "You know, EMIYA lost most of all of his memories from the time before he became a Counter Guardian," he said. "The only thing he had always clearly remembered was that time when you first appeared." Shirou gave a wistful look at the nostalgic event that seemed so long ago.

"W-Was I really that important to you?" asked Saber.

Shirou embraced Saber in his arms and said, "I love you, Saber. I don't ever want to lose you again."

Saber stiffened in shock, before relaxing and returned her love's embrace. "I love you too, Shirou." She closed her eyes and rested her head on Shirou's chest to bask in their moment of peace, currently content with the world.

*Cough*

Still in each other's arms, Shirou and Saber looked towards the source of the sound. Standing a few feet away from them, with jars of red sap in her hands, Euly the raccoon-eared faunus was smiling at them mischievously.

"Sorry to interrupt your little lovey dovey moment here," she said. "But I'm all loaded up and ready to go."

The Archer and Saber Servant both went completely red in the face for a moment before letting each other go quickly. They seemed to have completely forgotten that they weren't alone in their current mission.

Rin had Euly go with them this time, since they've cleared most of the surrounding Grimm in the area. She had requested that the Servants protect the faunus and take care of any more Grimm that had encroached back into the place.

Euly was to take samples of the Forever Fall red sap back to Rin. The red sap seemed to be an uncommon commodity due to the difficulty in harvesting it from the Grimm infested forest. Although considered a side project, the value in adding it to their food items at the café was enough of a reason for Rin to have them retrieve some to gauge its popularity with their customers.

"You guys sure do make a lovely couple," teased Euly. "Although, the atmosphere is a bit strange, considering you two were hugging it out surrounded by piles of dissolving Grimm."

Saber was the first to recover from their embarrassment. "H-Have you marked the surrounding area?"

Euly nodded an affirmative. "No one really goes through this deep into the forest so there shouldn't be any problems."

"Good," acknowledged Saber. "Rider should be able to find this place with Rin next time."

Shirou glanced at the area around them. "I'm still not sure what Rin is up to with all of this," he said. "Do you think you could ask her, Saber?"

Saber nodded before pausing to consult with Rin via their mental link.

"She said it's a surprise, and the she and Illya had been working on it for some time now," answered Saber. "She did say that she wants Rider to test out her Mystic Eyes here against the Grimm to see if having no souls would affect them as other creatures would."

"Yeah," said Shirou. "These things are very weird. I still can't figure out what they really are and why this is normal for this world. They act almost similar in nature to the Beasts of Gaia would. The only thing is, there doesn't seem to be any force here like Gaia that are acting on my magecraft." Shirou twisted Kanshou and Bakuya in his hands, carefully inspecting each of the blades.

"The mana in the air seems a bit different as well," said Saber. "It's not really less but it feels… light."

The only faunus in the area just blinked blankly at the two Servants. "I have no idea what you guy's are talking about," sighed Euly, while shaking her head. "Is this more of that magic stuff? Cause I can't understand what the two of you are saying."

"Well, never mind that," said Shirou. "Are you up for another ride?"

"Yep!" cheerfully answered the faunus. "It's really exciting to move that fast, and how high you two could jump is just amazing. I feel like I'm flying like one of those superhero comics that Eugene always reads."

"Glad to see you're not scared this time," smirked Shirou.

The faunus just glared at him in response.

Euly handed Saber some of the jars she had before getting picked up by Shirou. Together they quickly ran through the red-leafed forest in a breeze, making their way back to their home base.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **So I'm mighty tired from going through this chapter. Illya's part was actually pretty easy for me, but the setting up for the rest of the story was kind of boring.**

 **I might change some stuff later, if I have the time. Maybe more work on the Illya part. It's surprising how easy I have it with her. I already have most of her scenes fleshed out in my head. I can't really say the same for the rest of the cast aside from some of the major confrontations I have of them.**

 **These events are currently happening at the time of Jaundice.**

 **As always, please read and review.**

 **You can check my profile for updates. Also, I can't reply to reviews if you don't have an account.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

 **I'm not really sure how popular Jaune is. Although I do know how popular WhiteRose and BumbleBee is.**

 **Also, whose excited for the start of RWBY volume 3?!**

* * *

The sounds of the clash of blades rang through the air of the large backyard of a recently purchased estate. Tension hang in the air as three faunus surrounded the Servant Saber in a triangle formation.

As one, they all attacked with sudden momentum with their swords at the lone girl. Their blades were easily repelled by Saber without problem. For them, it felt more like they had just tried to slash a boulder. Not that they saw how, due to the speed the girl had swung the practice sword in her hand.

"Again!" said Saber, as she positioned her sword perfectly straight in front of her form.

"Give us a break… please!" begged Thomas, who was now breathing rather harshly and had his sword pointed down.

"We're already too damn tired," said Rud.

The sound of a rumbling tummy came out from underneath Eugene, who was lying face down on the ground. "I'm hungry…" he mumbled.

Saber stabbed her sword on the ground and had rested both her hands on its hilt in order to talk to them in a strict voice, "After getting a feel for your skills, I can confidently say that your current strength is lacking. In order to boost it, we must keep training all of you until you reach a level I approve of."

The surrounding faunus sighed tiredly at that.

"We're really all not that weak," claimed Thomas. "You're really just too strong, I think."

The other two faunus nodded their heads in agreement.

"Despite myself being a Servant, I can still see the need for training to sharpen one's skills," said Saber. "Being strong is a continuous battle because there will always be someone stronger." She held her right hand in a fist to her chest whilst looking far into the sky.

'If there's anyone stronger than you out there, we'd probably just run, hide, or give up,' thought all the tired faunus. They knew they weren't Huntsmen material and were perfectly okay with that.

"We will continue fighting until we are completely spent," stated Saber. "There are no breaks on the battlefield. This way, we can simulate what it actually feels like to be in actual combat." She readied her practice sword once more to face them, which caused the surrounding faunus to groan in response. "Negligence is our enemy."

Suddenly, the sweet wafting aroma of freshly baked goods assaulted the noses of Saber and the faunus. They turned towards the direction of the smell and noticed the upcoming figure of Sakura and Kelly carrying trays of food and drink.

"Everyone, I brought some snacks and refreshments!" she called to them.

Another sound of a rumbling tummy was heard. This one coming from the direction of Saber, rather than Eugene's.

"Ehem," coughed Saber into her hand, whose face was slightly red. "Hunger is also our enemy, therefore, we should strive to strike it down while we have the chance to do so."

Rud and Thomas gave her accusing looks.

"I won't say no to that," said Eugene, who was now running to intercept the two women. "That's the kind of enemy I can fight all day."

"Hey! Leave some for us!" shouted the other two faunus.

Meanwhile, in one of the estate's office rooms, Roman Torchwick was sitting down on a nice well-padded chair writing and reading forms and documents that were spread all over his mahogany table.

He was currently busy managing the finances and assets that they had recently acquired, and being familiar with fraud and other criminal enterprises, making sense and organizing all of it made it easy for him. Knowing that Roman was unable to betray or steal from them, Rin had put the criminal towards the tedious amount of work that all paper pushers deplored.

"How in the world did I get stuck with this job," he complained, while he audited the amount of liens going into their bank account. His eyes were scrutinizing every single amount of lien that was coming in and out from their new business.

The criminal had been left alone to deal with all the paperwork while Rin was busy down in her workshop working on a big project using the remaining Dust crystals they had after selling some of it to cover the cost of their recent operations.

Normally, Roman would probably be doing his current kind of work half-assedly or not at all, but due to the contract he signed, he was obligated do his best at the job.

The purchase of the estate they currently housed in had cost them a good amount of money. Most of it _HIS_ money when it actually came down to paying for it. Since he was a criminal, Rin had unfairly decided that the illegally obtained cash he had saved up would be better put to use for their convenience.

Of course, he argued that just because he was a criminal that doesn't automatically make his entire savings into ill-gotten gains. Unfortunately, when they asked him if it _wasn't_ ill-gotten, he couldn't lie to them due to his contract once more, which pretty much made his argument of the matter moot in point.

Roman sighed and put his scroll down, deciding to take a break.

While taking a drink from his tea, his mind wandered off to some of his former compatriots. 'Wonder how they're doing without me?'

While he wasn't made entirely clear on their plans when he was hired on, he did know for a fact that they had been planning something really big for the City of Vale. And now that he was effectively missing, he wasn't entirely sure what would happen with that plan.

His old employers will certainly be most unhappy with him if they ever find him.

"Heh," he chuckled. "At least, I'm glad I won't be seeing Cinder anytime soon."

He put down his cup and once more tackled the mountain of paperwork on his desk. "No point of thinking about what's past."

* * *

During the night, with only the light of Remnant's shattered moon shining on the ground and trees, a lone woman in black stood in the middle of a ring made of the dozen corpses of Beowolves near the outskirts of the city's borders. The weapon in her hand dissolved into tiny light particles starting from the Nail to the ends of its chains.

Rider had just finished clearing out the last of the newest pack of Grimm that had come close to the city. It hadn't been taking her and the other Servants as long as before once it was made abundantly clear to the other creatures of Grimm that they would be slaughtered without a doubt if they got too close. Even then, there was still the occasional packs that would roam by without care for their survival.

Occassionally, she and the other Servants would go farther to clear out larger concentrations of Grimm to thin out the herd. Everyone and her Master had agreed that leaving the creatures alone for too long would be too dangerous. Sakura herself was most adamant about protecting the city once Rin explained to everyone that the Grimm were attracted to negative emotions borne from people.

Having been the container for the corrupted Holy Grail and almost giving birth to Angra Mainyu, who was the embodiment of "All the Worlds Evil," Sakura felt most that she was to blame for the city's current swelling problems with Grimm.

Rider had made sure to slaughter as many of the creatures as she can afterwards. She resolved to make sure that there would be no reason for Sakura to blame herself, if the city had no problems concerning the congregating amount of Grimm in the area. The body count of Grimm she had during her turn with weeding out the creatures was quite a bit higher than that of Saber or Shirou.

Slowly, Rider turned to face the sky on her left. She could feel the presence of one of the many remote controlled drones that had been scanning the surroundings of the city. Rider hid herself among the trees to avoid detection, doing her best to conceal her presence.

The drone arrived and hovered for a few minutes among the bodies of the dissipating Grimm. It seemed to be taking a great deal of interest in them and the surrounding area, before it decided to leave and head back towards the city.

Rider watched it carefully, as it left. 'Those drones are moving farther and farther from the city,' she thought. She and the other Servants had noticed them the first time they went out at night along the borders of the city scanning for any dangerous activities. Usually the drones would just hover a few moments around an area they had cleared near the city before moving on, but recently, the Servant's had been seeing them pop up from time to time whenever they went out on their deeper trips out of the normal range of the drones.

'They've been trying to follow us,' mused Rider. That would certainly make it a little more complicated for them if they were to be discovered. Rin was particularly clear with everyone regarding keeping themselves out of sight and out of mind when it comes to the locals. To which, Rider agreed wholeheartedly, considering it would best keep her Master from harm's way.

She thought best to inform the others about this once she gets back. ' _Sakura, I'm heading back,'_ she mentioned through their mental link.

' _Good work, Rider,'_ came her Master's reply. ' _Did you have any problems?'_

 _'No. However, there is something I want to discuss with the others once I get back.'_

 _'Okay, I'll inform Neesan and the others so we can talk about it over dinner. Is there a particular dish you'd like to request?'_ asked Sakura.

' _Tonkatsu,'_ answered Rider promptly.

Briefly, Rider could sense over the mental link her Master giggling at the immediate answer.

' _I'll be sure to make a lot of it then. Make sure to come home early though because I'm not too confident I can keep the others at bay for too long.'_

Rider acknowledged that statement. She knew well just how fearsome the others could be when it came down to eating time. Too many a time had she come home from her duties to find that most of her favorite dishes had been devoured by the faunus, Saber, or even Rin. Sometimes, Sakura would be able to hide a few of the dishes from the others. But unfortunately, her senses weren't the only ones that were sharper than others.

The faunus could sniff out any hidden morsels about as well as the animals they got their traits from. While Rin had now gotten close enough to her sister to tell when she had something to hide. Sakura would do everything she can to save her some but that would only be stalling the inevitable.

Quickly, Rider dashed from tree to tree towards home. She hastened her speed enough that she had started leaving noticeable damage on the branches she lept from as she moved.

Truly fearsome what the power of delicious food can do.

* * *

On a bright morning, the City of Vale was busy with activity for the weekend, as the people moved about from place to place to shop, eat, or find some other form of entertainment. There was a bright air of cheer among the people as they went along with their mundane activities. In this bright and happy atmostphere, a single person stood out.

Walking glumly down a particular part of the city street, the leader of Team JNPR can be seen sighing ever so often as he made his way to his destination.

Jaune Arc felt tired. The dark eye bags he had, made that quite obvious to anyone who saw him. Lack of sleep from doing all of Cardin Winchester's homework on top of his own had most certainly deprived him of any down time he would have had. Even now, his weekend was being spent on doing an errand for the school bully.

Jaune let out another large sigh. "Why do I have to do this?"

Of course, he remembers all too well exactly why he was stuck being Cardin's errand boy. The fact that the bully found out about Jaune's not so legal application to Beacon Academy, had left him no choice but to obey Cardin's every wish. If he chose to not to, his secret would be exposed, and then he would likely be expelled at best, or imprisoned at worst.

"Maybe I should just quit…" he moaned. "Cardin is never going to leave me alone, and all I'm doing is dragging down my own team with me."

His teammates had been worrying about him for some time now. Pyrrha especially, but was still keeping herself somewhat distant from him, ever since he rejected her offer to help him. They had commented on his recent "friendship" with Cardin, but he made no mention of the true circumstance regarding it. He did not want to drag them further into his problems.

He looked at the piece of paper in his hand which detailed Cardin's list of things to get at the new café that recently opened. Apparently, Team CRDL had gotten themselves banned from the shop due to their openly rude treatment of the faunus staff there. Their disgust for faunus aside, it looks like the food there was exceptional enough that even Cardin had now resorted to asking someone else to get him take out for a chance at tasting it again.

"Where is this place anyway?" he grumbled to himself. Jaune looked around to see if there was anyone he could ask.

Up ahead of him at an intersection, he could see a young blonde girl with some groceries in her hand waiting for the pedestrian light to signal go.

"I guess it's better to ask then get lost." He walked up to her. "Excuse me, do you mind if you can help me a little bit?" he asked her.

The girl turned around and tilted her head in question at him. "Is there something I can help you with," she said.

"Uhhh…"

"Are you alright?" asked the girl.

Jaune, who was left momentarily speechless by the girl's appearance, managed to regain some of his senses to stop himself from openly gawking. He thought the girl was very pretty, although not as pretty as he thought Weiss was but still pretty darn close. Remembering just what he was doing, he asked, "Do you happen to know if this place called Radix book café is close by? It looks like I may have gotten myself a bit lost."

Later on, Jaune and the girl, whose name he know knew as Arturia, was walking together towards the café. He found out that the girl was one of the café's employees and was making her own way back after she had been sent out on a few errands for more spices and foodstuff. She had told him that they were a few blocks away from reaching their destination and that he was welcome to walk back there with her to prevent him from getting further lost.

"Thanks," he said, as they both walked. "I'm really glad I found someone who knows the way there. I'm certain Cardin messed up the directions on purpose just so he could make me go around in circles."

Arturia made a small smile at her walking companion. "It is no trouble. Please don't concern yourself too much. It is a simple matter for me to just guide you there." She looked at him curiosly and said, "Although, it seems to me your friend might have gone a little too far if you had managed to end up that far away from your destination."

Jaune sighed, trying hard not to think too much about Cardin. "He's not really my friend. More like an enemy, really."

"Then why do you follow his orders then?"

"It's complicated," he mumbled.

Arturia looked at him seriously. "Did he defeat you in battle?"

That question made Jaune stumble. "No! I mean… yeah, he did but… not really."

The girl stopped in her tracks and looked at him questioningly, determined to let Jaune explain himself more clearly.

Jaune made one of the many other sighs he had been making and said, "He knows… a secret of mine that will get me in serious trouble if others were to find out. If I did whatever he wanted, he promised me he wouldn't tell anyone else about it." He was currently looking at his feet, trying find something more interesting in it than the current confession he was giving a stranger he just met. "To be honest, I feel like I should just let him tell my secret, just so I don't have to be a burden on my teammates anymore. They deserve a better leader than someone like me," he slumped his shoulders after admitting so.

"You are a leader, you say?"

Jaune nodded his head, while still looking at his feet. "I'm not even sure why they picked me in the first place. Pyrrha would have made a great leader, rather than some chump like me."

"Stand up straight and face me!" came the sudden loud command of Arturia, which Jaune quickly followed.

He was now staring straight into the eyes of the girl he thought earlier was kind and delicate. All he saw now was the look of a superior commanding officer who was scrutinizing every single detail of his existence.

"If you are a leader, then you must stand and face me like one. Do you understand?" she questioned strongly, while still holding the paper bag of groceries she had to her chest with both arms.

Jaune lowered his shoulders a little. "But I just sai-,"

"What did I just say?" said the cold voice of Arturia who narrowed her eyes dangerously at him.

Stiffening his posture with his hands on his side in a flash, Jaune said, "To stand up straight and face you, Ma'am!" The current situation was certainly confusing for the young man but something about the girl's presence was demanding that he follow the command.

Arturia looked at him carefully. "Good," she said, nodding to herself, after making sure he was standing at perfect attention. "A leader must stand firm in his responsibilities. You're posture must reflect that. Confidence is key if you are to command the loyalty of those you lead, and showing that begins in how they view you."

Jaune couldn't figure out what was going on right now, but he figured he didn't really have much of a choice right now, so he decided to just shut up for now and wait for the girl to finish whatever it was she had to say.

"You told me you did not choose to become a leader," she asked him. "Regardless of your choice, you are now a leader of your group." Arturia stated this firmly. "As a leader, you must guide your comrades to the best of your ability. If you are lacking in that ability, then you must train yourself so that you may be able to do so. It matters not if you are failing right now. You are their leader, and you must struggle to become what a good leader should be." She paused, a slight hint of sad nostalgia in her eyes. "Trying to throw away that responsibility is a cowardly act. It insults not only your honor, but also those who followed you. In the end, the only thing you can do is to make sure you have done your best to lead them, regardless of the outcome."

Staring dumbly at the girl, Jaune realized that she was giving him advice. "T-That's… actually pretty good advice."

Arturia let go of her stern look and gave him a warm smile.

"Thank you. I hadn't really thought much about what it means to be a leader." He would seriously mull over this later. "But… uuuh… can I move now?"

Blinking at that question, Arturia said, "Of course."

Jaune collapsed on his butt on the ground at that, having locked his knees so hard from standing straight, his legs finally gave out. "You seem to know a lot about being a leader," he exhaled.

He caught a brief look of sorrow in Arturia's face.

"There is nothing like experience to bring one's mistakes out to bare," she replied, solemnly.

"I-I see," said Jaune. He decided not to inquire any further, since that would be a bit too rude. Although, inwardly, he was more than a little curious how someone who looks to be about his age could have such an experience.

Noticing what she might have said sounded a bit suspicious, Arturia quickly made an excuse. "I am a lot older than I actually look," she told him with a straight face.

Jaune had trouble believing that but he did guess that there were people like that. She could be as old as his mom for all he knew, and asking about a woman's age is never a good thing, especially if a guy was the one doing the asking.

Arturia held out a hand for Jaune to help him up. She picked him up quite easily, to his surprise, while she still held on to her paper bag with one arm. Together they continued their walk to Radix book café.

* * *

At the Beacon Academy dorms, Jaune Arc stood in front of Cardin Winchester. He held out the paper bag containing all of the food Cardin made him buy using his own money.

Cardin quickly took the food and looked over its contents. "Nice work, Jaune," he said, mildly impressed. "Thought you'd get here much later but you actually managed to get back early." Giving bad directions, he thought that Jaune would be lucky to find the place before dusk.

Jaune was annoyed just how blatantly obvious Cardin was of giving him bad directions. He made no show of it, considering what he was about to do.

"It's over Cardin."

The bully looked up from the paper bag to give Jaune a raised eyebrow in question.

Jaune took a deep breath and said, "I'm not going to follow your orders anymore. My team needs me to be there for them and I can't do that while you keep dragging me around like your personal assistant. You can go ahead and report me if you'd like but I'm not just going let you order me around anymore."

Cardin made a growl at that. "You know they'll kick you out, once I tell them about your dirty little secret, right?" he threatened.

"Go ahead," said Jaune, defiantly. "They'll expel me but at least I'll know I did my best at trying to become a good leader and a good Hunstman." He turned his back on Cardin and walked away from him.

"You're going to regret this, Jaune!" Cardin shouted.

Jaune stopped, which made Cardin smirk in triumph. The leader of Team JNPR only did so to look back at the bully and said, "No, I won't." With that, he continued to walk until he was out of sight of the angered bully.

"Oh, you will," mumbled Cardin, ominously to himself. "You and your whole team are going to regret ever humiliating me." He took out his scroll and dialed his teammate. "Hey Russel, is the field trip to Forever Fall still on?"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Well, this chapter turned out to be pretty slow. Setting things up is a real hassle. I really wish I could just write all the fun stuff like big clashes and etc. But then the story would probably never make sense.**

 **At least I'm fairly sure the next chapter may be a fun one. After all, it's going to be set at Forever Fall. We'll get to see Team JNPR and RWBY.**

 **Hopefully.**

 **There is a low probability of it changing depending on how the story happens once I write it out.**

 **As always, please read and review.** **It will help me if you can point out some mistakes in spelling and grammar as well.**

 **You can check my profile for updates. Also, I can't reply to reviews if you don't have an account.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

 **This chapter is almost exclusively just the cast from RWBY.**

* * *

Pyrrha Nikos had a smile on her face as she looked over the selection of food in front of her. She was humming a happy tune whilst filling up her tray in the school cafeteria. This was all but obvious to her friends who were standing in line behind her.

"Someone's in a good mood today."

Turning back to look behind her, Pyrrha saw Yang grinning at her with the rest of Team RWBY behind her. "Why, yes. I suppose I am in a very good mood today," happily acknowledged Pyrrha.

Yang's grin turned slightly mischievous. "Does it happen to have something to do with Jaune, maybe?"

"He does look a lot better, now that he's stopped hanging around Cardin," said Ruby while looking at Jaune, who was sitting with the rest of his team.

"Looks like someone finally decided to grow a spine," commented Weiss. The Schnee heiress didn't even bother looking at the boy and was seriously picking out food into her tray.

Pyrrha's smile cramped a little, but she didn't bother letting that comment about their team's leader bother her. The abrupt change in Jaune's behavior made her too happy for anyone to dampen that joy. "I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I'm sure it's for the best."

It only happened a little while ago, but Pyrrha was certain that it would be something she would cherish in her memories. Jaune had just come back from whatever errand Cardin gave him when he suddenly told her and the rest of Team JNPR that he would no longer be hanging out with the school bully. He had also said he was sorry for not being such a good leader for the past few weeks.

In addition, Pyrrha had also begun training Jaune privately, once he apologized to her for the way he had acted to her help before, and asked if the offer was still available to him. She had felt angry and rejected before, but quickly forgave him right there and then when he had sincerely asked for it. That made her feel quite ecstatic at having to be able to be with Jaune, just the two of them.

"You coming, Pyrrha?"

That question from Blake, shook Prryha from her reminiscing, and she saw that the rest Team RWBY were already heading towards the table that Jaune and the others were at.

As they were coming closer towards their table, Pyrrha saw Nora playing around with her food by stacking them up into a meatball snowman. Ren and Jaune seemed to be talking while they waited for her before they began eating.

"It's nice to see you better now, Jaune," said Ren, who was slicing up his chicken on his plate into smaller pieces. "You seem to be a lot more upbeat now."

Jaune was bashful at that and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I finally gave it a lot of thought after I got some pretty good advice from someone."

Ren looked at Jaune, curious. "Was it Professor Ozpin?"

"No," Jaune denied. "It was just some nice girl I met in Vale."

Team RWBY had taken their seats in front of Jaune and the others, but Pyrrha had stood frozen next to her seat at Jaune's words.

"Aren't you going to take a seat, Pyrrha?" said Ruby, tilting her head in question.

"O-Oh, of course…"

Pyrrha tried to sit down as normally as she could, but was a little too stiff at doing so. While the rest of the people around her only thought mildly about that, Yang did not fail to see just what had bothered the red-headed warrior.

Smirking to herself, Yang decided to further question Jaune's new acquaintance. "So what was this girl like?" she casually asked.

"Well…," Jaune was having trouble how to describe the girl. "She was really pretty…"

Pyrrha's eye twitched in response to that.

"B-But not as pretty as you, of course, my snow angel," quickly said Jaune towards Weiss, who just rolled her eyes at him.

"Go on," encouraged Yang, whose smile continued to widen at Pyrrha's forced smile. "Why don't you describe her to us and tell us what she was like."

"She had blonde hair just like me, and had soft green eyes…," said Jaune. "The type of girl who seemed kind and delicate at first glance."

Yang took a glimpse to her side, checking on Pyrrha's reaction to that comment, and determined to find any more amusing tells. To her surprise, she found that Pyrrha looked perfectly fine, who was eating her meatloaf contentedly while still listening attentively. That surprise only lasted about until she noticed the deep indentation of the girl's fingers on her fork due to how hard she was holding them. Definitely...not fine.

Deciding that maybe she'd gone too far, Yang interrupted Jaune and said, "Maybe you can tell us the rest about her some other time."

"No, no, please do go on and tell us as much as you can about this wonderful girl you've met," smiled Pyrrha dangerously.

Everyone felt chills, except for Jaune who was too dense to notice and continued. "I guess I would describe her as..."

Yang was mentally shaking her head at Jaune for being so dense about Pyrrha. She wondered just what it was about the boy that Pyrrha liked so much. If it was her, she would probably just have knocked him flat out by now.

"Stoic, stalwart, noble, and… manly?"

"…"

Everyone on the table with Jaune was left staring blankly at him in silence. They were trying to think if they heard him right. Even Pyrrha's worsened mood had evaporated into question marks above her head.

"You did say this was a girl, right?" questioned Blake.

"Maybe it was just a really pretty boy," quipped Nora.

"I'm pretty sure he said she was a girl, Nora," said Ren.

Jaune was flustered at everyone's confusion of his words just now. "She is a girl. It's just that… that was pretty much how it felt like when she was talking to me."

Pyrrha tried to suppress her giggling at him, but was failing terribly at it. "Yes, Jaune. I'm sure a _kind_ and _delicate_ girl like her would appreciate being called manly."

With Pyrrha's mood considerably happier now, everyone else joined in laughter at Jaune's description of his advisor. Jaune sulked and groaned for a moment before giving up and joining the others at laughing at his expense.

"It's good to see you back in the groove, Jaune," said Ruby. "Just in time for the field trip tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah," said Weiss. "I heard Professor Goodwitch was going to be supervising us."

Ruby nodded. "It's going to be all of us and Team CRDL tomorrow collecting some research samples for Professor Peach."

"Ooooh, I'd love me some of those research samples for my pancakes!" exclaimed Nora. She had stars in her eyes and drool dropping down her mouth as she thought excitedly about their trip.

"Easy there, Nora," chastised Ren. "We're supposed to be collecting, not eating them."

"Then we'll gather as much as we can!" declared Nora, who had now placed her right foot on the table while pointing her fork forward towards the scene of endless pancakes and syrup in her mind.

Ren sighed tiredly.

* * *

The students of Beacon Academy arrive early in the morning at Forever Fall Forest. Twelve students that make teams RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL can be seen walking behind their Professor Glynda Goodwitch, who was sent to supervise the students.

Professor Goodwitch was leading the students towards an area of the forest that had been determined to have relatively low amount of Grimm. There had been little to no sightings of the creatures in this part of the forest, which is why it was decided that the field trip could be done here.

The Professor explained to the teams there assignments, and cautioned them on the dangers of the forest before sending them on their way.

Teams RWBY and JNPR went in a separate direction together from Team CRDL.

"Isn't this fun, Jaune?" asked Pyrrha, as she collected red sap from a tree into her jar before handing it out to their team leader.

"Y-Yeah… fun…," said Jaune queezily.

Pyrrha noticed something off with the boy. "Jaune, are you okay?"

"I think I might be allergic to this stuff…," he said before falling flat on his back.

Pyrrha rushed to attend to the sickened boy, while everyone else continued on with gathering their own samples. They weren't too worried, considering they knew Jaune tended to get sick from the most inane things and still be reasonably fine.

"…Nora, please stop eating the sap," mumbled Ren after the 4th time his jar had been emptied by the voracious Valkyrie.

Nora just kept smiling at him, smudges of red sap on her mouth, as she handed him another empty jar to fill.

The two teams were gathering their samples peacefully, unaware of the presence of Team CRDL hiding in a hill above them, watching them closely. Cardin and his goons had 10 jars of red sap that they had gathered with them.

"Okay, you guys know the plan, right?" said Cardin to his teammates.

Sky and Dove both had 5 of the jars in their arms and nodded at him.

"We throw these jars at them and let the Rapier Wasps do the rest?" said Dove.

"That's right," nodded Cardin. "Jaune and his team won't know what hit them until they're stung all the way to their toes."

"What about the other team?" asked Sky uneasily.

Cardin just scoffed at that. "What about them? If they're hanging around those losers then It's not our fault if they get caught in the crossfire. Now get into position so we can get this over with. I wanna see Jauney boy's face once he see's what's coming for him."

Sky and Dove both tried to walk to their position. One of the jars in Sky's arms slipped out and caused him to trip on it, sending him forward into Dove's back, which caused the both of them to crash into Cardin. The crash broke all of the jars, causing the red sap to splatter all over the three students.

"Aaagh! You Idiots!" angrily yelled Cardin. "What do you think you're doing?!"

The three students untangled themselves from their messy pile up.

"Now we have to gather mo-,"

 ***ROAR!***

Cardin and his teammates saw a big Ursa Grimm come out of the trees, sniffing the air. It wasn't the only one, as more Ursa's of varying size appeared behind it. The smell from the red sap on their clothes seemed to have attracted a fair number of the creatures.

"Oh, crap…," mumbled Cardin.

Down below Cardin's team, the other students hear the roars of multiple Ursa's coming from the hill above them. The sound reverberating through the whole forest was hard not to notice.

"Well, that sounds bad," said Ruby.

"Should we maybe head back to Professor Goodwitch?" asked Jaune uncertainly.

Before anyone could respond, they started hearing shouts and screams from Team CRDL who were running down towards them. They ran frantically, speeding through as Cardin led in front of his team.

"Out of the way! Out of the way!" he shouted as he pushed pass Jaune.

"Run for your lives!" said Russel, who was not far behind Cardin. "Ursas incoming!"

"Say what?" said Jaune.

Multiple vicious roars sounded off from the hill Cardin and his group came from and the Ursas came charging down the hill. There were at least a hundred of the Grimm barreling down towards them. All of which looked extremely ready to tear them all apart.

Only one word came into mind for teams RWBY and JNPR... _RUN_!

Both teams went running after Cardin, determined to get away as fast as they can from the oncoming tidal wave of bearish nightmare that would come crashing down upon them.

After several minutes, they came upon Team CRDL who had stopped running because they were now facing a few more Ursas that they had ran into. Somehow, they were able to fight them back because these were regular sized Ursas and numbered only about a dozen or so.

"We gotta help them out," said Jaune.

While leaving them behind to distract the approaching horde would have given them enough time to escape, Jaune and the rest were not as cold-hearted as others to do so. Sacrificing someone else, even if they were a bully, was something they could not do. So they proceeded to help team CRDL take out the Grimm.

Cardin was surprised to see Jaune of all people helping him out against three Ursas. He saw that the rest of his team were also being helped out by their classmates, as he blocked an attack from the Ursa in front of him.

With all of the 1st years working together, they made short work of the Grimm. Blades sang through the air as they sliced through hide and mask, while sounds of shots from their Dust rounds peppered the Grimm.

"Well, that was easy," said Ruby.

The sounds of roars and pounding of paws behind them reminded the students that they had only dealt with part of their problem.

"You just had to say that, didn't you?" said Weiss icily, to which Ruby just shrugged embarrassedly.

"What do we do?" asked Blake.

"We run that's what," answered Cardin. He started to move away before Jaune grabbed his shoulder from behind him.

"No. If we run, we might end up running into more of them. And if that happens, we'll just get tired from running and fighting until the rest of them catch up to us to finish us off."

"Are we supposed to fight them then?!" said Cardin. "There's too many of them!"

Jaune thought hard about it. "Yeah, that's the only way we can make it out of here."

"Are you nuts? We can't take on that many!"

Everyone else was decidedly unsure of what to think of Jaune's plan. These were a good deal of Ursas to fight. If they were Beowolves, it would have been considerably easier on them to fight that many. Unfortunately, Ursas were far more powerful and some of them were even larger than the common ones.

"Jaune's right," agreed Ruby. "Running will just get us killed faster. We should hold them off here while we still have enough strength so that Professor Goodwitch can manage to reach us and help out. We maybe 1st years but we're all still trained to combat Grimm. This is the best chance that we have of making it out of here in one piece." She looked towards her own team, who all nodded in agreement at her judgement.

Jaune looked relieved at Ruby's approval of his plan. "It's settled then. We make a stand here until the Professor gets to us or we finish off the Grimm."

"We're with you, Jaune," said Pyrrha, as she held his shoulder in encouragement. Ren and Nora were also determined at backing him up in his plan.

Team CRDL was reluctant but agreed with it as well, considering they did not want to bump into any more Ursas when running away. They had also thought that having stained themselves in red sap would just likely attract any surrounding Ursas and end up getting themselves trapped.

Everyone had two from each of their team act as the vanguard to meet the rush of Grimm coming their way. Yang and Ruby from their team, Jaune and Pyrrha from theirs, and lastly Cardin and Dove. This was done so the rearguard can support or swap with the frontlines when they get too tired or overwhelmed.

Not long after they finished their formation, the Grimm finally appeared and went straight for them as soon as they saw the humans. The trees helped in filtering the number of Ursas from completely spilling onto them, however the horde was still plenty enough to turn it into only a minor advantage for them.

The Grimm charged forth with reckless abandon. They neither cared nor hesitated in their attack, even when their fellow Grimm kept getting put down in front of them.

Yang sent her punches through every single Grimm her way, blasting them with her Ember Celica each time. Ruby's scythe whirled in a deadly spin that cut apart any that went close enough for it to reach. The others were doing fairly much the same with their part, either killing or holding off any of the Ursas to maintain their formation.

The rearguard sent Dust rounds into the ranks of the Grimm that greatly prevented the creatures from all out swallowing them in their numbers. The heavy Dust rounds from Nora and the ice that Weiss created were especially useful in managing the mass of Grimm.

Soon though, Dove and Ruby had to switch with someone from the rear to reload their Dust rounds. The others would have to do the same later on.

Even though they were doing quite well against the horde, they found themselves pulling back further and further each time they slowed their pace to swap people. The Grimm were relentless in their assault, caring not for their injuries or downed comrades.

A charge from the largest of the Ursas finally broke through the formation. Cardin and Russel were both sent flying back when they'd tried to block it with their weapons.

Seeing what happened, Jaune moved to intercept the creature while shouting, "Everyone pull back towards Cardin! We have to get back in formation!"

Jaune didn't want the big Ursa to attack anyone else while they pulled back, so he made the decision to handle it.

The Ursa swiped its massive claws at Jaune, which caused the boy to duck underneath it and roll down to slice at its legs. The creature felt the pain and roared, but the damage did little but futher enrage the mad beast.

Before the creature could make another attack at Jaune, a flurry of Dust rounds hit it on its face, causing it to block the attacks with its arms. Seizing this chance, Jaune once again dashed forward with sword in hand to try and decapitate the monster.

The creature had regained its senses long enough to see Jaune coming up to attack him. It made a swipe with its paw at Jaune, but it was too late, as the sword cut through its neck cleanly. However, the attack from the Ursa did manage to send Jaune flying towards the rest of his teammates, which resulted in sending him, Ren, Blake, and Nora into the ground.

Their Aura were in the red now, the rest had been yellow for a while now. The situation wasn't looking good for them. Professor Goodwitch was still nowhere to be seen, as several dozen Ursas burst forth into a run at seeing their weakened prey.

As the downed students tried to stand up to meet the charge, they saw a peculiar behavior among the Grimm.

The creatures had stopped a few meters away from them.

"Huh?" said Yang, tired but still had her arms up, ready for another round. "Why'd they stop?"

Curiously, the creatures suddenly began pacing back and forth a certain distance away from them. They growled at the students but kept pawing at the air, as if a wall is blocking their way. It was akin to seeing animals at a zoo looking for a breach somewhere in the bars that prevented it from going outside.

Everyone relaxed a little at seeing this unexpected break, however, they still remained cautious about the situation. While it looked like they were safe for now, they weren't naïve enough to think that the creatures would keep standing by.

Helping out Jaune from the ground, Pyrrha said, "Let's pull ourselves together while we can. I'm not sure whatever it is that is holding them back will continue to do so. We should get ourselves ready just in case."

Everyone nodded their agreement at that.

For the first minute or two, they reloaded and readied themselves for the Grimm. But after seeing no difference in the behavior of the Ursas in front of them, they started to think that no further attacks were going to be happening.

"It doesn't look like they can get to us," observed Weiss. She noted that the constant pacing of the Grimm had made a definite boundary on the ground visible.

"Maybe they're finally too scared after we killed so much of them," offered Cardin haughtily.

"No," said Ren, who shook his head in denial. "It looks more like something is stopping them from getting to us."

"What in Remnant can do that?" asked Blake.

Ruby moved closer towards the gathered Ursas.

"H-Hey Ruby, get back here!" said Yang, running to intercept her sister.

Ruby looked back at her sister and said, "It's okay, Yang. Look, they can't get past a certain point." She was only a few inches away from the creatures.

The Grimm growled and roared at Ruby, but made no further actions that put them anywhere close towards the little red riding hood. They were clearly frustrated at not being able to reach their prey, however, they never stopped pacing back and forth from their current distance from the boundary between them and the students.

Confused, but certainly not unhappy with the current situation, the students holstered their weapons, once they made sure that there was no immediate danger.

"So what do we do now?" asked Nora.

"We should probably wait here till Professor Goodwitch finds us," insisted Jaune.

Cardin huffed at that. "You guys can wait here if you want, but I'm not gonna wait around here with those Grimm close by." He started walking further away from the Grimm with his teammates following him.

Team RWBY and JNPR watched as he and the rest of his team disappeared into the forest away from their view.

"Think we should follow them?" asked Ruby.

Suddenly, they heard Cardin shout of fear from where he had just gone to.

"I think that's a definite yes," said Jaune.

Together, both teams readied their weapons and ran past the trees to find Cardin sitting on his bum, staring at a massive Ursa like the one Jaune had just fought, while the rest of his teammates were just starting to bring their weapons out.

Everyone made ready to attack, but was suddenly interrupted as Ruby said, "Is that a statue?"

Looking carefully, everyone noticed that the clear definite form of the Grimm, was indeed made of stone. The physical characteristics were very realistic and even its stature made it clear that it was ready to attack, however, the color and texture was very much that of a stone statue. It was very life-like indeed, but a solid sculpture of stone was all that it was.

"Someone has really bad taste," commented Yang. "Who'd ever make a statue of a Grimm all the way out here?"

"Probably one of those urban modern age artists, who keep leaving their junks everywhere," angrily spat Cardin, who had recovered from his fear by now. "Stupid modern art loving junkies!" He shouted as he punched the stone statue, which caused it to crumble easily as his fist went through it.

"Geez Cardin, you didn't have to destroy it," sighed Pyrrha. "Someone probably put a lot of time and effort into that, seeing how realistic it looked. Getting all those details just right must have been a painstaking task."

"I don't think you have to worry about that," said Blake. The cat faunus was looking past the broken statue at the rest of the surroundings behind it. "There's plenty more of them."

Looking past the trees, all the students could make out the shapes of other Ursa statues littering the forest ahead of them. Each and every one looking like they were about ready to attack someone or something.

"Woooah, so cool!" shouted both Ruby and Nora in excitement.

Moving closer to check one of the statues, Pyrrha traced her hand along its mask. "Who would go through all the trouble to make these things out here?" she quietly asked. "In the middle of nowhere, surrounded by Grimm, no less."

"I'm not so sure these really are statues," answered Blake, who was also checking the stone art quite carefully. "The details are too perfect, down to even the minute features. Making one is still reasonable, but this much," she gestured at all of the statues. "It's just way too much. There's no way someone could make this many."

"Hey, hey, Ren! Quick, take a picture of me with Mr. Ursa here." Nora was grabbing on an Ursas neck and posed herself in a bridal carry with it.

Ren sighed. "Nora, please get down from there."

"Just a quick photo, c'mon."

Slumping in defeat, Ren took out his scroll to take the picture.

The rest of the students started exploring their surroundings, checking to see if there was anything else here that maybe out of place. They were starting to feel that there was something else to this place after encountering a 2nd unusual event. It would be safe for them to assume that there might be more surprises in store for them.

"Hey guys," called out Jaune. "I think I might have found something else."

Teams RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL made their way towards the blond sword wielder. They found him standing on the edge of a small clearing in the forest.

"What do you guys think that is?" he asked, pointing at another stone object at the center of the clearing. It looked a lot like a table.

"Another sculpture, maybe?" offered Weiss.

"No," denied Blake. "It looks like some sort of stone pedestal." She narrowed her eyes to see better. "Looks like there's some Dust crystals on it," she said in a surprised voice.

"Let's get a closer look," said Ruby, who was already walking towards it.

Yang quickly grabbed her sister before she got away again. "Oh, no you don't," she said. "You're not going anywhere near there until we know for sure it's safe. Who knows, that thing might be booby trapped for all we know."

"Booby trapped?" said Ruby, giving her sister an incredulous look. "You've been seeing way too much movies lately, Yang."

"I certainly know more than a thing or two about boobys," smirked Yang, which just caused everyone to groan at her, including Team CRDL.

"Her puns aside," said Weiss.

"Hey!"

"I agree with Yang that it might be better if we left that thing alone."

Ruby thought briefly before accepting her teammate's opinions. She decided that it would probably be best for a leader to listen to her comrades. It most definitely was not because of that icy glare Weiss had sent her when she momentarily considered ignoring their request and just going for it.

"Okay, so we avoid the weird stone obj-,"

"NORA!" shouted Ren in a panic.

The Valkyrie was already halfway-through the clearing before she tilted her head in question at her name. "What?"

"Weren't you listening just now?" sighed Ren.

"Nope."

Team JNPR sighed at their teammate.

"Well, it doesn't look like it-,"

A pulsing red arrow had suddenly hit the stone pedestal, interrupting Ruby, and blowing up the object in flash of blue light. Smoke and debris scattered around the clearing, blocking their view.

In a moment, Ren was running towards the last place he saw his peppy friend. "Nora! Nora! Where are you?!" he shouted.

"I'm fine, Ren," said the orange haired girl. "I don't see you. It's kinda hard to see with all this stuff around us."

Ren and the others felt relieved at hearing that their friend was fine.

The air cleared up soon enough for all of them to see what had just happened.

At the center of the clearing, where the stone pedestal once stood, a small crater and some pieces of stone and Dust crystals were all that was left. It was clear to them that there would be no knowing for sure what the object was now.

"Told you it was booby trapped," smugly smiled Yang.

Weiss picked up an intact piece of Dust crystal on the ground, looking it over. "I'm not so sure."

Before they could investigate any further, the howls and roar of the Ursas from where they came from, entered their ears.

"Looks like we might have found what was holding them back!" stated Blake. She brought out her Gambol Shroud and took up a combat position.

Soon, the rest of her classmates followed her example, as they too started bringing out their weapons and faced the forest that the Grimm would soon appear from. They made their stand near the middle of the clearing, watching the treeline for any signs of movement.

Together, the three teams stood, ready to face the assaulting horde of Grimm once more. The thick tension hung in the atmosphere around them, as the sounds of the rampaging creatures got closer and closer towards them. Before the sounds slowly but surely died down, causing a small confusion among the students.

A sound of a tree branch breaking, alerted the students, and put their confusion away. The figure of an Ursa brushing out of the trees, made them all aim there weapons at it, prepared to punch it full of Dust rounds. That was until the Grimm flopped faced down on the ground, dead.

They all noticed that the creature was fatally wounded and had all sorts of damage already.

Another figure stepped forth from the trees beside the dead Ursa.

"I'm glad I finally found you, students."

Professor Goodwitch had appeared. She was visibly sweating as she made her way towards the students, her wand in hand.

"Once I get my breath back, I'm certain everyone is ready to go home?" she asked, as she tried to relax herself.

Seeing there Professor, all the students started cheering at being able to get back to Beacon in one piece.

"I knew we'd make it," declared Weiss happily.

Yang pulled the Ice Queen and the rest of her teammates into a hug. "There was never a shadow of a doubt of that in my mind," she grinned as she said so.

While everyone was celebrating and congratulating themselves on a job well done, Ren was looking around for Nora, as the energetic girl was once more out of his sight.

He found her kneeling beside a tree, a jar in her hand. It looked like she was trying to collect red sap once again before they left the forest. He wondered where she even got the jar, considering they all but dropped all of their stuff aside from their weapons when they ran from the Grimm.

"Nora, please tell me you're not trying to get more red sap again," he said.

"Yup," plainly answered Nora.

"Where did you even get the jar?" he asked curiously.

"I found it."

Ren furrowed his brow at the answer. After all, why would there be an empty jar lying around.

"Just be quick, Nora," he sighed, giving up on thinking too much. He knew there would be no meaning in thinking too deeply when it concerned the madness that was Nora Valkyrie. "We don't want to get left behind."

"I'm trying as fast as I can," complained Nora. "But this is like the 4th tree I've tried and they've all been pretty much empty."

"Really?"

That was certainly a curious thing. Finding an emptied tree of red sap was highly unlikely. To find 4 in a row? Now that was just something else entirely.

"Everyone get ready to move!" shouted Professor Goodwitch. "It's time we start heading back before we encounter any more problems."

"Looks like we have to go, Nora," said Ren.

"Awwww…" sighed Nora dejectedly.

Seeing Nora so down, Ren couldn't help but feel a little bad for her. "Why don't I treat you to that place Ruby and the others have been talking about during the weekend?" he suggested.

"Really?!" Nora beamed expectantly at him. "We can go?"

Ren nodded his head.

"So awesome~!" sang Nora.

And with that, Nora and Ren quickly trailed behind the others. They soon made their way through the forest in a tight group, cautious yet hopeful that they wouldn't encounter anymore Grimm along the way. The group was entirely unaware of the presence about a kilometer away from them.

The figure of a man wearing black body armor with a red overcoat, a sturdy black bow in his hand, was standing high above one particular large tree, and looked closely at the group that were moving back towards the city.

' _They're gone,'_ said the Archer class Servant through his mental link with his Master.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I'm tired. The 24th and 27th can't come soon enough for me. I'm too excited for Tree of Savior, planning my builds and whatnot.**

 **Next chapter is going to be either more subdued or more action. Depends on what I see happening first.**

 **I hope to one day take a fine tooth comb and go over the other chapters and fix up the story. Maybe once I actually finish this story.**

 **As always, please read and review.** **It will help me if you can point out some mistakes in spelling and grammar as well.**

 **You can check my profile for updates.**

 **P.S.**

 **If you all don't know "Mother of Learning," go and read it! Especially those who like the Harry Potter books. Pay the man on his account so I can read faster. This is mostly a selfish request. If you're dirt poor like me then you don't have to, but that story is still dang awesome.**

 **P.P.S.**

 **It looks like a lot of people are still confusing EMIYA with Shirou. So I'll be clarifying it here.**

 **Due to the dimension testing in chapters 2 and 3, Shirou Emiya is now basically mixed with the Servant EMIYA. While it will be mostly Shirou with the memories of EMIYA, some parts of the Counter Guardian will still be showing up from time to time, probably the sarcasm and stuff regarding heroism, but it _will_ still be Shirou Emiya. HF Shirou does not a have pronounced hero complex because that is how he is in that route (close to the end), and also since he mixed with EMIYA, who pretty much loathed becoming a hero due to what it turned him into.**

 **Masters and Servants:**

 **Rin Tohsaka - Arturia Pendragon (Saber class)**

 **Sakura Matou** **\- Medusa Gorgon (Rider class)**

 **Illyasviel von Einzbern - Shirou Emiya (Archer class)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

 **I've been checking some information on POV in writing. I must say that I am thoroughly confused now because there are so many of them. First Person, Third Person, Omniscient, and all that other stuff. I'm not exactly sure where I classify. I think it switches from Third person limited to Third person subjective omniscient... fudge.**

 **I know nothing!**

* * *

"How's our progress?"

A map of the City of Vale on a table was the center of attention of Cinder Fall and several White Fang members who are currently discussing the recent strings of robberies that they have made across the entire city. Crates, boxes, and trailers full of Dust encompassed the entire warehouse as other members of the White Fang continued to unload more of the stolen Dust into it.

One of the faunus next to Cinder, marked an X on a dozen points in the map. "We've hit every single major Dust store in this area. We've pretty much robbed every Dust shop in the whole city, and our own storage space will soon be filled to capacity. There is still plenty of room right now for that large shipment coming in from the Schnee company, but I think we'll need to find a few more empty warehouses if you still want us to continue our operation."

"No," denied Cinder. "Take what you can and get ready to proceed with the next phase of our plan once we've filled our current stores. That should be plenty enough Dust for us to continue on."

A slight unease spread throughout the faunus in the meeting.

Noticing this, Cinder asked with narrowed eyes, "Is there a problem?"

For a few moments, not a single faunus among the White Fang was willing to speak and were trying hard to avoid the woman's gaze. That was until a faunus with glasses over his mask decided to take a chance. "Uhhm… most of u- the members are… _concerned_ about the location of the next phase," he said meekly, with a hand raised. "The new place is pretty much a den of Grimm, and considering the history there, a lot of u- our members are not decidedly happy with the relocation."

Of course, Cinder was displeased by this information. But she made no show of it on her face, and instead gave the White Fang members a calm smile. "Perry, isn't it?" she inquired, to which the faunus nodded to in response. "Didn't you join the White Fang in order to change the world? Change it for the better for all faunus kind?" Once again, the faunus nodded. "Didn't all of you agreed that the human government has gone long enough with allowing the discrimination that every faunus currently feel?" She pointedly asked the others. "Are all of you going to back out now just because of a little danger, now that we're getting closer to achieving our goals?"

The entire room went silent.

"No!" shouted a faunus. "We'll not let our fear get the best of us! If it helps the goals of the White Fang, then no Grimm infested mountain is gonna stop us from doing it!"

A chorus of cheers from the others rang out in agreement. The knowledge of getting so close to what they've always fought for, fueled their enthusiasm for what lay ahead of them.

Cinder smirked inwardly at her control over the gullible faunus. Only she among them knew the truth about the entirety of their plans.

"Good," she said. "You can continue with the robberies until then."

"Yes, ma'am!" All the faunus nodded firmly in reply.

The meeting was dismissed and everyone set off to do their jobs, except for a single faunus who continued to stare at the map on the table.

"Is this really for the best?" said Perry doubtfully to himself.

* * *

The Headmaster of Beacon Academy sat in a cozy little chair out on the veranda of Radix Book Café. Accompanying him was Professor Glynda Goodwitch, who sat at his side whilst drinking from her amorous cup of tea. They were currently enjoying the peaceful lull in their daily activities as they waited for their guest to arrive.

"Ozpin!"

Turning their heads towards the voice, the two Professors could see General James Ironwood being guided towards their table by one of the maid staff. The General of the Atlesian military and Headmaster of his own academy looked certainly pleased at seeing the both of them.

"Hello General," greeted Ozpin.

"Please, drop the formalities." Ironwood went and shook hands firmly with his old friend. "It's been too long."

"It certainly has been," nodded Ozpin.

"And Glynda!" Ironwood saw the stern woman sitting beside Ozpin. "Certainly been quite a while since we last met."

"Hello James."

Those were the only words the General received from the crop wielding Huntress, as she proceeded to continue drinking her tea in favor of ignoring the poor man.

"Well, you certainly haven't changed," sighed Ironwood.

"Pull up a chair and join us, James," said Ozpin.

The General needed no further as he took the seat in front of his two friends. The maid that guided him left a menu for him to peruse. It didn't take him long before he ordered a hearty brunch meal for himself.

Once the maid left to turn in his order, Ironwood said, "This is definitely a… _unique_ place you chose for us to meet, Oz."

"It does have a very different charm to it than the normal places, that is for sure," agreed Ozpin. "But I'm quite certain you'll understand once you've tried their food."

Ironwood raised an eyebrow, curious at what his friend meant.

"But I suppose we should talk more before that," said Ozpin. "Now, why are you here so early, James?" He looked expectantly at the man before him.

"I don't suppose you'd believe me If I said I missed seeing the both of you?" Glynda scoffed at that remark. "Guess not," sighed the General, and then facing them seriously. "I've heard of the reports about the increased Grimm activity around the city. There is also the news about the recently expanding string of robberies of Dust that has been impacting the city. While not yet concrete, there is sufficient evidence that led us to believe that the White Fang have been responsible for the thefts."

"While the presence of the White Fang certainly is a cause for concern, we've had no problems with the Grimm too much as of late," said Ozpin.

Ironwood stared at Ozpin. "That's only because of this unknown Huntress that's been keeping the beasts away."

"True," admitted Glynda, who had now gave her full attention towards Ironwood. "You've certainly done your homework on this. We've asked all the currently established Huntsmen and Huntresses in the city, and none of them know or admit as to who this Huntress is. And so far, our drones have only been able to manage to see the aftermath of her battles and not a single sight of the Huntress herself."

"As you can see, there is a lot for me to be concerned about, Oz." The General put his hands together on the table. "You know that this might be exactly what Qrow told us about, don't you?" he asked.

Ozpin sighed.

There was little the Headmaster could do about those facts. Qrow's warning had certainly caused Ironwood to be on guard at even the remote sign of their enemy. And there were plenty of signs all across the City of Vale right now.

"While I still prefer that we tackle these problems in a more subtle approach," said Ozpin. "Admittedly, there have been far too many strange occurrences as of late." He stared, focused on Ironwood. "Just recently, our students encountered another such occurrence." Ironwood straightened and listened in close at that. "On a field trip to Forever Fall Forest they encountered a large number of Grimm…"

"That's not really strange," commented Ironwood, deflating his earlier tension. "Grimm have always been known to prowl in large pockets around that place."

"If only that was it," stated Ozpin. "This encounter did not go well for the students as the Grimm forced them to retreat. What was strange, however, was that the Grimm did not, or possibly, _could not_ follow them after they reached a certain part of the forest. One of the… younger students decided to check this for certain and stood only a few inches away from them." He paused before continuing, "The creatures did not attack her, or probably more accurately, were unable to. The other students described it as if a wall stood between them and the creatures."

Disbelief was apparent on Ironwoods face. "…That's not possible," he said slowly. "The creatures of Grimm do not stop attacking people, unless they are one of the older ones who have just a hint of self-preservation."

"And yet, I saw it happen with my own eyes when I went to retrieve the students," said Glynda demurely as she drank from her tea. "A horde of Grimm pacing along a section of the forest where I found the students waiting a little further in."

The General furrowed his brows in light of this information, a glint of fire in his eyes. "Did you find the cause for such a thing to happen?"

"Possibly," answered Ozpin. "Our students informed us of some sort of stone pedestal that they saw deep inside the area they were in. They said that it had some Dust crystals on it, and surmised that it may have been what kept the Grimm at bay."

"Is that so?" said Ironwood, more than a little interested now. "If what they are saying is true, then if our scientists could replicate that technology…"

Glynda shook her head at this. "Unfortunately, it would seem that the object was destroyed before they could get close to it," she told Ironwood, much to his dismay. "They told us that once it was destroyed, they heard the roars of the Grimm, and wisely made ready to defend themselves. This is in line with what happened on my side, when I saw the Grimm had started to move towards the students as soon as they roared out."

"Did the students know how the object was destroyed?"

"The consensus among them say that it may have been trapped. But one of them, Pyrrha Nikos, said that she thought she saw something red hit the object just before it exploded," answered Glynda.

"In either case, someone didn't want anyone else finding out what exactly this object was." Ironwood frowned at his own realization of this. "Was there anything left of the object at the scene?"

Ozpin and Glynda shared a look that the General did not fail to notice.

Ozpin answered, "As soon as we debriefed the students on what happened, once they arrived at school, we sent out a team with Oobleck and I to further investigate the matter..."

Ironwood felt that Ozpin was hesitating at giving him some less than pleasing news.

"…Once we arrived, there were no traces left of the object, aside from the small crater from the explosion."

General Ironwood groaned and massaged his brow. "So we have nothing on this mysterious object that can magically keep the Grimm away," he said sarcastically.

"Not exactly…"

Ozpin did not wait long until he had his friend's full attention once more. "There were… statues that littered the surrounding area where this took place."

"Statues…?" said Ironwood in puzzlement. "That is certainly quite odd."

Ozpin and Glynda nodded in agreement.

"The statues were of Ursa Grimm," said Glynda. "More than two dozen actually, and incredibly detailed and life-like to boot. I saw them on my way to where I found the students. And it was almost as if someone literally turned them to stone where they stood."

"I saw it myself with the rest of the investigation team as well," added Ozpin. "We're currently in the process of moving some of them to study. Professor Oobleck himself was ecstatic with the find, and wants to conduct a detailed analysis of it personally."

His right hand on his chin, General Ironwood mulled over the implications of these strange occurrences and their possible connection to the warning the Qrow gave them.

"Given the circumstances, I be—"

"Here's your order!" A raccoon-eared maid faunus interrupted the General and placed down a steaming dish in front of him, along with the rest of his order. "Be careful not to eat too fast," she quipped before bowing quickly and taking her leave.

The General couldn't help his mouth from watering at the sight before him. "This is really quite something," he said as he unconsciously took the utensils left on the side of his meal. "I haven't had a chance to have breakfast before I made my way here..."

Seeing that his old friend's attention was now somewhat compromised, Ozpin gestured for him to eat first before they continue on with their discussion.

Ironwood was hesitant to do so, given the serious nature of the matter at hand. "I'm sure I can wait a little longer before eating," he denied firmly. The sounds of his hungry stomach echoed through after what he had just said.

Glynda broke her passive mask and giggled at the now slightly red embarrassed face of Ironwood. "Come now, James. I do believe it wouldn't hurt to table this matter before you've had your fill, surely?" she said teasingly.

General Ironwood sighed in his defeat caused by the betrayal of his own body. "Very well, we will settle this discussion for later, once I've made sure to sate the beast that growls inside my own gut."

Both the General's companions laughed softly at his exaggeration.

And thus, the General came to taste one of the most satisfying meals he's ever had in the Kingdom of Vale.

* * *

"Did you make sure not to leave any trace of the Bounded Field behind?"

Rin Tohsaka stood calmly behind Shirou, as she thought carefully on how to proceed with her plans, now that they encountered a minor setback. Meanwhile, Shirou was busily brewing a pot of tea. They were in one of the largest office suite of their new home, along with Saber and Illyasviel, who were both sitting on the couch with a collection of snacks on the coffee table in front of them.

"I think you're being a little too paranoid, Rin," smiled Illya at the concerned magus, crumbles of cookies around her mouth.

Breaking out of her thoughts, Rin addressed Illya, "We still know little about this world, and I for one, won't make the mistake of underestimating what potential danger we might face if we become too careless."

"Relax, Rin." Shirou offered her a cup of tea he had just brewed. "I made sure to get every single piece of it before other people got there," he said, trying to allay her concerns.

Rin gratefully accepted the cup and drank some to settle her thoughts. "Well, at least that's one problem solved."

"Is there more problems we are not aware of, Rin?" questioned Saber, her hand stopped mid-air to her mouth with a chocolate truffle as she heard of another possible problem.

Sighing into her cup of tea, Rin took out a familiar looking sack that she placed down on the coffee table. "This is the problem," she frowned seriously at the limp sack.

Everyone looked confusedly at the sack, blanking at what it could possibly be. Illya was the one who seemed to have finally remembered what the sack was, as she clapped her hands at the memory of it popping into her head.

"That's the sack of Dust Crystals you were slobbering all over before!" she declared, whilst pointing at the sack.

"No, I wasn't!" vehemently denied Rin, before regaining her composure. "Ehem," she coughed embarrassedly. "Aside from the slobbering part, you would be correct. This is all the Dust crystals we have left after selling some of it to fund our business. Our experiments have also used up a considerable amount of it, and the recent one just used up pretty much all the remaining crystals."

Everyone around the room noticed how completely sullen Rin was at looking at the now empty sack. They could guess pretty well just how badly the first rate magus was feeling right now. It was fortunate, however, that they did not completely share Rin's pain from it.

"I'm not sure I understand, Rin," said Saber, looking at the gloomy girl. "Are we in still need of more currency?"

"No, it's not that." Waving off the question with her hand, Rin explained, "Our business is actually doing extremely well right now, so we have enough money for ourselves for the foreseeable future." She clasped her head in frustration. "The problem is, there are no more Dust crystals for the experiments we have to do!"

"That is too bad…" said Shirou. "Especially now that we've confirmed that the Bounded Field is able to work well enough against those Grimm. The plans to enlarge the scale of its effect would probably have to wait."

"So why don't we just buy more then?" asked Illya. "You said we have enough money anyway, why not spend some of it to get some more Dust crystals then?"

Rin sighed and collapsed on a chair beside the others. "I would have done that already, but the prices for Dust around the whole city is through the roof. The amount of lien needed is absolutely absurd. We probably couldn't even pay for a quarter of what we'd need to continue our tests before our bank account runs dry."

There wasn't much anyone could offer as a quick solution to Rin's problem. Supply for Dust was scarce and demand was high. They had no idea on how to acquire more of the stuff, and the only reason they had any in the first place was because—

"Hey boss! I've got those account statements you wanted to check."

A knock and Roman Torchwick's voice rang out from behind the closed door of the office that everyone was in.

"Yeah," absently answered Rin. "You can come in and just leave them on my desk."

Roman opened the door, holding a stack of paperwork in his hands. He noted the rest of the people in the room, as he dropped the pile of paperwork on Rin's desk.

"Got something interesting going on here, boss?" he queried.

"We're out of Dust crystals," replied Rin, not bothering to break her sullen gaze at the empty sack.

"You know I could always steal some more, right?" Roman smirked. "It wouldn't be that hard for me to get much more than that."

Rin just sighed at that, while Shirou and Saber gave Roman disapproving looks.

"We're not thieves, Roman." Shirou said so with conviction. "We're not desperate enough to resort to that."

"There is no honor in unlawfully acquiring the property of others," added Saber.

"Jeez, you guys are so serious." Roman held up both his hands in gesture of surrender. "Stealing isn't that really a big of a deal," he said. "I just thought about it since the White Fang have been cleaning out the whole city lately. Don't want to get left in the _Dust_ , right?" The sleazy gentleman snickered at his own joke.

Rin's ears perked up visibly from where she sat.

"Catch you guys later then, see ya." Just as Roman was almost through the door, a strong pair of hands firmly gripped his shoulders, causing chills to run down his spine.

"Oh…? Where do you think you're going?" said the visage of a chuckling demon from Roman's back.

"Yeeee!" Roman let out an uncharacteristic noise of fear and surprise at the sudden appearance of his boss behind him. "J-Just heading back to work!" he rattled.

Rin had an innocent smile on her face as she still held on firmly to Roman. "Now, now. I couldn't help but notice what you said just now," she said, an undercurrent of darkness in her tone whilst still holding the seemingly normal smile.

Roman began sweating bullets as he felt the gravity of the situation on him now. "I-I was kidding! I swear on my life!" He gulped as he said so. "I promise I won't steal Dust like the White Fang ever again!"

"Really?"

The enslaved criminal nodded his head vigorously.

"We can't have that now, can we?" said Rin gently, much to Roman's surprise. "A leopard can't change its spots, after all."

Obviously perplexed by this, Roman said, "…I'm not sure I understand."

"I need you to go out and steal some stuff," said Rin happily.

"…"

A momentary pause was apparent in the entire room at what had just been said, before the eruption of an argument came from the two Servants present.

"Rin! You can't be serious about this?!" said Shirou incredulously.

Saber also added her disapproval. "Such an act is beneath you, Rin!"

Rin looked entirely confused at the abject refusal she was getting. "Why not?" she tilted her head in question. "It won't really be any different from how we got our previous stock anyway."

It was now the others who looked confused.

Again, it was Illya who realized first what Rin was talking about. "You're planning on stealing from the White Fang!"

Rin smiled and nodded. "We're not really doing anything bad by stealing from thieves, right? Plus, they are the reason why we can't just buy the Dust crystals too," she argued. "In the end, we get to stop them from robbing people AND we solve our shortage of Dust. I would say that's a win-win for everyone."

"Everyone but the White Fang…" mumbled Roman, which was ignored as usual.

Shirou had his hand to his chin, seemingly pondering at the idea. "That does seem to be a lot better than stealing the Dust outright."

"I am not so sure how I feel about this…" Saber was understandably more reluctant at the slightly twisted logic behind Rin's plan. "Would it not be more appropriate to return the stolen materials?" she said.

Rin sighed and let go of Roman for the moment, which greatly relieved the man, as her grip wasn't the only thing that disturbed him whenever she was enacting whatever devious machinations she had.

"Saber..." Rin moved closer to her Servant. "This is for the best. Not only for us, but for the people of this world as well," she said so smoothly. "If we can perfect the Bounded Field that can ward off these Grimm, how many lives do you think this will improve? No, how many lives would this save?"

Saber's face scrounged in thought of that idea. It was not entirely against her morals to make a little sacrifice to save the many. After all, she once did more reprehensible acts during the wars of her reign. What Rin had in mind was a lot more acceptable in its process and end result.

After thinking about it for a short time, Saber finally agreed with her Master's argument.

"Good," smiled Rin.

However, one other person was not too keen on this idea.

"I'm not so sure how I feel about this either…" whispered Roman.

"Well, you don't really have much of a choice." Rin pointed out, much to the man's annoyance.

The Jewel obsessed magus though, knew just what Roman's personality was like. While the contract did ensure the gentlemanly dressed criminal's loyalty, it would still be preferable if he were to follow their orders with a little more willingly.

"Don't tell me you were just lying about calling yourself a 'Master Criminal' all this time?" said Rin slyly.

"What?!" said Roman, offended by the accusation. "I'll have you know I'm the best criminal this Kingdom's ever even heard of!"

"Really? Because it sounds like the White Fang are doing quite well without you." Roman frowned at Rin's words. "Even if they are you're former employers, you seem a bit afraid of them really."

"Hell no!" yelled Roman, his hands tightly balled into a fist. "I'm not scared of Cinder or those little pets of hers!"

"Wouldn't you like to see the look on their faces when they find out that they were the one's who got robbed?" Rin was acting as the perfect little devil on Roman's shoulder as she continued to spout her evil intentions. "Now, wouldn't that be the crime of the century?" she said, trying to tempt him further.

Roman's head was filled with the images of just how furious his previous employers would be. He pictured the look of outrage on Cinder's face once she got the news. The simple idea of it brought a wicked smile to his face.

Unbeknownst to Roman, Rin's visage had a vicious triumphant smirk at his side at having him playing in the palm of her hand.

Meanwhile, Saber and Shirou shared feelings of unease at Rin's actions. Illya was holding tightly to her Servant, as jitters ran through her whole body at the sight before her.

"Shirou…" said Illya. "Rin is really scary…"

"Yeah, Illya." Shirou agreed without hesitation. "We know…"

* * *

 **Omake: (A small tidbit of a practice portion from potential crossfic #3 on my profile)**

 **A Wise Man's Gift:** **~LOVE Fate~**

"No…"

Medea fell to her knees, hands limp at her sides, as she stared at the assassin's fallen body before her. A tear dropped down from her eye, making its way past her quivering lips.

"This can't be real," she whispered. "It can't be you…" Her hands reached out haltingly towards the assassin's face, while she prayed hard to herself that what she was seeing wasn't true. The familiar feeling she felt as she grasped his face gently in her soft hands proved her wishful thinking wrong. Then the tears came flowing down her face, once she realized the truth before her.

"After all this time… I've finally found you," she cried softly, whilst cradling the assassin's head gently in her arms. "The gods must truly hate me." Lightly moving her fingers to brush away at the hair on his temple, Medea gingerly caressed the man's cheeks. "For us to meet in such a way... Are we truly not meant to be…? Souchirou?" she whispered, hoping she would get an answer in return. The feeling of pain and sorrow marred her beautiful face, as her grief left her vulnerable for all the world to see. It was to be expected, because there was now way the man could answer her.

As if in response to that, rain slowly fell down from the clouded skies above them, covering the surroundings of the man and the woman, like the world itself was grieving over the tragedy of what has occurred in front of it.

The man Medea had wanted to see for so long was, at last, in her arms once more. There was no joy in her heart because the only things she felt right there and now were the pain and the cold body of her beloved, who she held closely to her chest. The gradual heavy sounds of rain falling on the ground around them, drowned her anguished cries for killing the man she loved. And for the longest time, she cried and cried.

At the end of her ceaseless crying, until there were no more tears left for her to give, a cold hand reached out gently to touch her tear-stained cheeks from beneath her, causing Medea to pause in her grieving to look down and find herself staring into deep dark eyes.

"Cas...ter...?"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Sorry for the unrelated omake but I just posted it here so more people can see it.**

 **Anyway, there are many things coming up soon for me. Too many games and other stuff. Tree of Savior beta, Overwatch beta, Fallout 4, Starcraft: Legacy of the Void, just to name a few. You can pretty much guess what will happen with the updates on this fic.**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and the omake at least!**

 **As always, please read and review.** **It will help me if you can point out some mistakes in spelling and grammar as well.**

 **You can check my profile for updates.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

 **I wanted to make this longer but It would probably take me a lot longer to release it when I've got distractions everywhere.**

* * *

Nora Valkyrie was seated with a plate stacked high with pancakes in front of her. The fluffy softness of the delectable round flat deliciousness was covered from top to bottom with a glistening red syrup that oozed a sweet fragrance which mixed well into the air with the heat coming off from the freshly cooked food.

For a moment, the sight before the girl had brought a tear in her eye and a slight drool on her lip.

The moment passed and so did the pancakes. The only traces of it were now plastered all over Nora's mouth as she smiled in satisfaction.

"More, please!" she shouted.

"Nora…" sighed Ren. "Please try to at least pace yourself."

Pyrrha and Jaune both chuckled at the two as they all sat together to enjoy their lunch time, hanging out in Vale. It was a pleasant reprieve after the disaster of their class field trip.

"I think we should just let her be for now, Ren," said Pyrrha. "All of us do deserve a well-earned break."

"Easy for you to say," answered Ren in a small voice. "You're not the one paying for our meal today."

"True, but I'm not the one who promised to do so."

Ren's shoulders sagged heavily on those true words. He looked over to their team leader for any sympathy for his plight. Unfortunately, Jaune also seemed to be well engrossed in his own lunch to notice.

"I can't really say I don't understand," said Jaune in between taking bites of his steak. "This place has really good stuff."

Seeing that he was not going to get it easy on today's meal at all, Ren decided to just at least enjoy his own food and worry about the bill later. "I still can't believe they have Forever Fall red sap here. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad about it for Nora, but this red sap is supposedly very hard to come by."

"Seeing as what happened to us while gathering it, I can understand why it would be a rare commodity," said Pyrrha.

"We're hardly the only ones who have it now though," answered a violet-haired maid, who came to lay down another stack of pancakes in front of Nora. "Our supplier is the only one who provides all of the city's red sap. It was quite fortunate for us that my sister managed to strike a deal with them and received a discount for our stock."

"Why, thank you, Sakura," smiled Nora. "Keep em' coming please."

Team JNPR had gotten to know Sakura, thanks to Blake introducing them when she went along with them. They had a very favorable impression of her because of how polite and kind she was.

"Do you know how they manage to gather so much in a Grimm infested area?" asked Pyrrha curiously." The female warrior was very interested in how someone could make a commercial business out of such a dangerous to obtain commodity.

"I'm sorry, but I believe they said it was a trade secret."

"That's too bad," said Jaune. "Maybe they have some Huntsmen or Huntresses working for them on the side."

Pyrrha shook her head against that. "Regardless of how delectable the sap is, I don't believe it would warrant such attention from Remnant's protectors when there are so many Grimm right now. Also, having a team of Huntsmen and Huntresses keep a constant protection on an area of the forest would most likely cost more than any profit a business could make."

"Who cares!" said Nora whose plate of pancakes were already half-missing. "As long as I get to eat my pancakes with the stuff, I'm a happy Valkyrie."

Seeing this, Sakura made haste to retrieve more pancakes for Nora before it ran out.

"Service is really good here, huh?" commented Jaune at watching the maids and butlers work around the café.

Pyrrha smiled at Jaune. "Yes. I can understand why Ruby and her team talk frequently about this place."

"Speaking of," said Ren. "Where is Team RWBY? Weren't they supposed to meet us here? Blake's the only one that came with us."

"Where is Blake by the way?" said Jaune looking around.

"She's upstairs with one of the maids, browsing for a few books," said Pyrrha. "It seems they have similar interests in genres, and had asked for some recommendations on what they have. Weiss and Yang took a detour shopping for clothes, while Ruby should be waking right about now and heading here soon, since she slept late finishing some of her homework last night."

Jaune furrowed his brows. "End of semester schoolwork. That's something I still need to do, but the semester break is so close now," he complained. "Preparations for the Vytal Festival is already going on too. They really shouldn't give us so much stuff to do."

"Think of it as the final sprint before the finish line," encouraged Pyrrha. "We'll get a break from school as soon as we power through the workload." A slight unscrupulous idea popped into the redheaded warrior's mind. "I-If you would like, I could also offer to teach you on our other school materials besides combat," she added in a casual tone, unable to look at Jaune as she did so.

"Really?!" said Jaune. "Are you sure you wouldn't mind? I mean, you're already helping me enough as it is already. I wouldn't want to bother you anymore than I already have."

Pyrrha was quick to reassure. "Of course not, Jaune. I'm already done with most the material myself. Having to teach someone else would actually help me with going over it once more to make sure."

"Thanks a lot, Pyrrha!"

Prryha calmly smiled in response to the gratitude, a small blush faintly appearing on her cheeks. To the side, Ren and Nora observed the two of them quietly while continuing to eat, both thinking about how Pyrrha was working her way towards Jaune's continued denseness at her feelings.

* * *

Blake was looking intently at the book she had in her hands. It was a red book with the title in big black and bold letters. Her hands were shaking slightly as she held on to it with slight awe. Fingers tracing the title of the book, she couldn't believe the truth before her.

"Pirates of Love…" she whispered.

"I assume you know of it then?"

Blake looked at the woman who had just given her one of her most sought after books she had ever wanted. "I wasn't really expecting you guys to actually have it, so I didn't even bother asking. This book was supposedly never sold publicly due to problems with publishing... but I did hear that a few limited prints of it had been available for a short time. How did you even get this, Medusa?"

Medusa smiled at her disbelief. "Mr. Tukson was, thankfully, not entirely exaggerating when he told us he had every book under the sun. I thought that, given our similar taste in novels, that you would quite enjoy reading this one."

Blake had gotten close with the maid a while ago during her team's visits when she started asking for some specific books to read. She found out that they had quite a lot in common in their preference in novels, specifically, the slightly embarrassing ones that she dared not talk about with others, even her own team mates. What started out as small talks about some books, turned into full-depth discussions on the plot and relationships with each of the characters.

"I-I… don't know what to say," she said.

"Just tell me what you think of it, once you've finished reading," said Medusa graciously.

"Thank you," said Blake.

Medusa made a small bow and curtsied. "As a maid, it is my pleasure to serve you, Miss Belladona," she said with a smile.

Blake understood that Medusa was just jesting a bit with her, but she still couldn't help feeling a little bit uneasy about her politeness. "You know, I do consider us friends, Medusa," she said. "You don't have to act so formal with me."

"I am a Servant and I shall do what my Master asks of me without complaint." Medusa noticed Blake pouting at her, so she stood up straight and gave a small laugh. "Forgive me, Blake. I couldn't help but tease you a little bit. It's not every day that I get an opportunity to joke around with someone."

"Really, now…" sighed Blake.

"Think of it as my charge for finding you that book, if you will."

"I guess a little bit of teasing would be a small price to pay for getting a book like this," responded Blake, whilst giving the book in her hand another happy look.

Medusa, not willing to give up on her teasing, asked her innocently, "With all the books you've been reading about love lately, I don't suppose you've finally landed yourself someone yet, have you?"

Blake immediately blushed at that. "W-What are you saying?! I-I don't have anyone like that at all!"

Medusa continued her attack, "Really? Being in a school designed to train fully fit and capable warriors, you would think there would at least be someone you would be interested in." She waited for Blake's abject denial, but only silence followed. She saw that Blake had a pained expression on her face.

"I'm deeply sorry, Blake," she quickly apologized. "I did not mean to offend. I went too far with my jest."

"No…" Blake shook her head. "There wasn't anything wrong with what you said." She tightened her grip on the book in her hand. "It's just… it's a bit hard for someone like me to get that close to someone. Especially since they wouldn't really know the real me."

Understanding dawned on Medusa's face as she realized what Blake meant. "I see…" she said. "I am surprised that even at your school they would judge one based on their appearances. It must be hard being a faunus."

A soft thump was heard as the book in Blake's hands fell on the wooden floor. Her face was slightly pale and seemed a bit shocked before she recomposed herself to pick up the dropped book.

"T-There have been cases of bullying among other discrimination against the faunus there, yes," she fumbled the words a bit. It took her a moment to realize that Medusa was most likely referring to the other faunus at the academy, rather than her specifically. "They have a lot of hardships to overcome, no matter where they go."

Blake noticed the puzzled look Medusa was giving her. "Is there something wrong?"

"No. It's just that... I find it strange that you would talk about them, as if you are not a faunus."

The book once more fell to the floor with a thud. A short silence fell between the two of them as Blake could only stare with shock and fear at the maid, whilst Medusa only looked worriedly at her friend.

"Blake… are you alright?" asked Medusa.

"I-I think you're mistaken," she said nervously. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

The maid furrowed her brow in response. "Are those not animal ears under that ribbon on your head?" she asked.

Blake took a step back in disbelief. "E-Even my team mates don't know that about my ears or that I'm a faunus. How did you know?" she questioned desperately.

"I apologize," Medusa replied. "I had thought that it was obvious, considering they twitch a little every time I have seen you bite into the food we serve." What she said was only half true. It was true that she observed that cute little response of Blake's when eating, but Medusa's acute senses had already pointed her out as a faunus the moment she entered their café.

At that statement, said bow visibly twitched.

"I… don't know what to say," said Blake, who looked pained at having not known that she had long been found out. "You knew I was a faunus all this time?"

Medusa picked up the fallen book and gently placed it in Blake's hands, while laying her own hands comfortably over them. "If you are worried how I or anyone here would treat you over knowing that fact, you need only look at the way we treat our own staff to see that we have no ill will towards faunus kind."

Blake shifted her vision from the book in her hands to the gentle smile that Medusa gave her. "I guess I really should have understood that better, since I have been going here for a while. It's just that... I got so used to people treating me and the others of my kind as monsters that I started thinking that would be how everyone else would think, if they found out." Although she said that as if it was due to her being a faunus, what was really on her mind was her time growing up as part of the White Fang. Being feared and hated was natural, given the violent and bloody path the organization turned into.

Medusa narrowed her eyes in slight anger. "When people treat a person like a monster, they will find that a monster it is that will appear before them," she said in an even but harsh tone. The tale of her own history swirling around her memories.

"…Medusa?"

Being called out to had snapped the maid back into her normal demeanor. She was quick to recompose herself, before Blake could suspect that she was speaking more from experience than ideological morality.

"Please rest assured that your being a faunus will not be any sort of problems for anyone here," Medusa continued. "If you wish me not to speak of it to anyone else, I can promise you that no one will ever find out about it from me."

"Thank you," said Blake sheepishly. "I'm not exactly sure how my friends would react if they find out what I really am, even though I really want to just let it all out."

"You are their friend," declared Medusa strongly. "They will understand, and if they don't, then that just means that they were never really fit to be your friends in the first place."

Blake considered the advice carefully. She was mostly sure that Ruby and Yang would be fine with the truth, however Weiss would be another matter. The obvious distaste of the Schnee heiress against faunus was something Blake could not dismiss as misinformed. Plus, it wasn't just the fact that she was a faunus that she was hiding from them. That secret would be the most difficult to share.

"I'll think about it..." In the end, that was about as much commitment Blake could do for now.

"Good," nodded Medusa. "Now let's get you something to eat with the rest of your friends downstairs."

Before the two of them could leave, someone came up beside the two carrying a bag of tools in his hands.

"Hey, Medusa!" greeted a tall white-haired and tan skinned man in work clothes, who also gave a polite nod to Blake before returning his attention to the maid. "Can you tell me which table it was that Sakura said had a bad leg?"

"It's the far one on the right by the veranda, Shirou," she said.

Shirou nodded in response and made his way towards the problem. "Thanks, Medusa. Please keep up the good work," he said good-naturedly.

As Shirou moved away from them, Medusa's gaze lingered a little bit on the man's broad back. She only stopped when she realized that she still had work to do. Turning around, she found herself faced with Blake's smug smile aimed directly at her.

"Uhm… is there something the matter?" she questioned uneasily.

"No, No. Not really," answered Blake, pretending that nothing just happened. "It's just that, for someone so interested about my love life, you seem to have a lot more going on than I do."

"I-I believe you are mistaken," quickly denied Medusa. "There is nothing going on between me and Shirou. Please do not misunderstand that."

"Really?" questioned Blake intently, looking at her friend's face for any slight reaction.

"It would be really impolite to keep your friends waiting, and I should really be getting back to work," diverted the maid. However, the small blush on her face as she strode pass was enough confirmation for the cat faunus to know the answer to her question.

"Since you're keeping my secret, I suppose I can keep yours as well," teased Blake.

Medusa only kept silent as they both walked downstairs. The heat on her face having never really left yet, while Blake continued to stare behind her with a knowing smirk all the way.

* * *

At downtown Vale, a section of the street was cordoned off by the police. Shards of glass was scattered on the concrete pavement and various other damages could be seen on the store where the police were conducting their investigation.

Bystanders were watching the scene with a mix of curiosity and trepidation. The people of the city have heard all about the recent Dust shop robberies, and that had driven an uneasy weight on everyone's minds as to why this continued to happen.

Standing beside the crowd, Yang and Weiss were both observing the aftermath left behind by the thieves, whilst holding on to their shopping bags. They could hear the two police investigators discussing the crime from where they were.

"Looks like the robberies aren't stopping anytime soon."

"I still don't see why anyone would need that much Dust."

"Maybe it's for an army?"

"Could be the White Fang, you think?"

"I'm thinking we don't get paid enough for this."

As the two officers moved to check the other parts of the store, Weiss was gritting her teeth in anger after hearing what they had just said.

"The White Fang…" she said with venom in her voice. "What an awful bunch of lowly degenerates."

"Sounds like you've got a real bone to pick with them," said Yang after noticing the harsh tone in her friend.

"Those faunus are a bunch of scum who only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."

"That's not necessarily true..." said Yang. "You have to realize that some of them probably didn't have many options, considering how most faunus are discriminated against."

Weiss looked incredulously at Yang. "Are you trying to defend those criminally insane terrorists?!"

Yang sighed. "No, I'm just... trying to look at things objectively."

"Well, I've seen first-hand the consequences of the things they do," said Weiss while walking away from the scene, not giving Yang a chance to question what she had said.

Yang ran to catch up with the Schnee heiress. "You know, people make mistakes, Weiss. Would you really hold it against all of them for some of the things they do being misguided?"

Weiss turned around to face Yang. "Misguided?! They want to wipe humanity off the face of planet!"

"Look," said Yang. "I'm not saying all of them are victims of circumstances, I just want you to understand that not everything is just as black and white as you make them out to be."

"Why are we even talking about this?" asked Weiss in annoyance. "There is nothing wrong with hating a bunch of criminals." She stood and turned away from Yang.

"We do have classmates that are faunus, you know? There's Velvet from Team CFVY for example and more of them will arrive from the other kingdoms for the Vytal Festival. I just don't want you to be on bad terms with them just because of it."

"I'm not a bigot, Yang!" proclaimed Weiss. "I may not completely trust them but I have no problems with faunus in general. As long as they're not a part of a menacing group like the White Fang, I wouldn't really treat them that differently from anyone else." She once more walked away and her mood all but said that the conversation was over.

Yang slumped her shoulders in resignation. "Well at least our team doesn't have a faunus or a member of the White Fang…" she sighed.

"Hurry up, Yang! We're going to be late, if you keep stalling!"

Deciding that a hearty meal would sooth her day, Yang looked forward to arriving at their destination.

* * *

Running down the city streets of Vale, young Ruby Rose dashed quickly to avoid pedestrians and other obstacles while using her Semblance. Her hair was partially unkempt as she had used only the bare minimum amount of time to fix it when she woke up.

She had found that her team had already left without her to their usual weekend spot along with their friends of Team JNPR.

"I can't believe they left without me!" she whined. "Plus it's almost past lunch time. I'll miss out on the specials!" An old man walked out of a store right in front of her. She quickly walked on the store walls to avoid the bystander and continued on her way.

"Obstacle avoided!" she cheered, while looking back at the bewildered old man.

Unfortunately, on that split second she looked away, another innocent bystander walked out of an intersection right into her path.

"Ooof!"

The speed of the collision had dazed Ruby as she struggled to push herself off the ground. "Oh… wow. What did I hit?" she said as she rubbed a sore spot on her head.

"Salutations!" came a peppy voice under Ruby.

"Gaah!" Ruby picked herself quickly onto her feet as she stepped back from the person under her. She saw that a curly orange-haired girl was lying down in front of her. It dawned on her that she was the one she had ran into. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?!" she asked worriedly.

"I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking!" the girl replied cheerfully on the ground.

The oddly positive answer had caused Ruby to pause a bit. "Uuuhh… do you want to get up?" she said as she looked doubtfully at the girl.

The girl on the ground stopped to think for a moment before responding yes. She flipped herself on to her feet and stood in front of Ruby.

"My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Uuhm… Hi Penny. I'm Ruby."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"You… already said that," pointed out Ruby.

Penny tilted her head as if the statement was a question before saying, "So I did."

"Anyway…" Ruby tried to ignore the odd conversation. "I'm so sorry for running into you. I was in such a hurry that I wasn't looking where I was going," she said and continued on explaining rapidly. "I was up late last night finishing some homework and studying for a big test, so I woke up late to find out that my friends had left me behind. Then I remembered that the lunch specials for the café was almost over, so I started running, and I had to use my semblance to try and make it on time, and I had to avoid a bunch of people, and then there was this old man…"

The speed at which the explanation came out was enough for anyone to think that someone was playing Ruby's voice on fast-forward, but it seems that Penny had managed to get all of it with not much trouble.

"…and that was how I ended up crashing into you," finished Ruby in a huff. She took a moment to get her breath back. "But I guess it doesn't matter anymore since I won't be able to make it in time to get that special dessert item on this week's special," said Ruby hopelessly.

Penny could only look curiously at Ruby. "Are you talking about the crepe special at Radix Book Café, by any chance?"

"How do you know that?" said Ruby in surprise.

"My friend's family owns that place and she had invited me to try some," answered Penny. The girl looked carefully at Ruby and said, "I'm sure I can try and convince her to have them make one for you as well."

Ruby excitedly grabbed Penny's hands into her own. "Really?! Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she said gleefully. "I'll be your friend forever!"

Suddenly, Ruby found Penny's face a little bit too close to her's as her own hands were also now the one's in the peppy girl's iron grip.

"Really?! Am I really your friend?!" she asked seriously.

"Uhhhh…" Ruby's sudden elation was now crushed with hesitation at the serious question and the abrupt close proximity of the two. After a moment of indecision, she answered, "Sure… why not?"

Penny laughed in joy. "Sen-sational!" she shouted. "You're the second friend I've ever made. I guess this is what they meant by 'running into your friends.'" Penny then tilted her head in thought. "It seems like being run into by people is the fastest way I'm making friends… I should bump into people more often!" she declared.

 _"Please don't,"_ thought Ruby as she remembered the pain she felt from running into her.

"Oooh! You have to meet Illya as well!" Penny grabbed Ruby's hand and started dragging her away towards the direction of the café. "I'm sure she'll want to be your friend too!"

* * *

Sounds of cutlery hitting plates rang out into the air from a table on the corner of Radix Book Café. Three young girls sat beside each other as they ate the desserts in front of them.

"Oh, this is soooo gooood!" moaned Ruby with a mouthful of food.

"You should try my big brother's melon bread with this next time. It really melts together well with the flavor."

"I don't think Ruby can hear you right now, Illya."

"Melon bread. Good flavor. Next time." Came the reply from in between the bites of crepe that Ruby ate.

"Hehehe," giggled the youngest looking girl. "It looks like she heard me just fine." She was incredibly content at observing her new friend eat with gusto.

Sakura came to the group's table and set down some glasses of water for them. "How is everyone doing? Are your desserts okay?"

"It's better than okay! It's absolutely heavenly!" said Ruby enthusiastically, to which the maid nodded positively in response.

"Thank you for serving us, Ms. Sakura," said Penny.

"Please think nothing of it," smiled Sakura. "We would always be glad to see any friends that Illya makes. Shirou himself couldn't stop smiling and talking about it when he found out that his little sister finally made a friend."

"W-What?!" shrieked Illya. "P-Please don't say such embarrassing things in front of my friends, Sakura!"

Sakura giggled at the cute flustered form of the short magus. "But it's true. Even sister had a dumbfounded look on her face when she found out. She was saying things like 'who would have thought that that violent little brat could actually make friends.'"

Illya growled and seethed in anger. "That money-grubbing jackal. I'll get her back for that."

"Violent?" questioned Ruby, who had stopped eating at the interesting discussion.

Quickly, Illya laughed it off while scratching the back of her head and said, "She was referring to when I was younger, of course. I was a little bit of handful for everyone back then."

Sakura made no mention of how it was actually only some time ago when Illya had been trying to kill everyone else with Berserker. "Yes. She was quite a lot of trouble to take care of for Shirou and my sister." Thoughts of the two being chased around and pummeled by the large dark mountain of a killing-machine entered her mind.

Illya began to pout at Sakura. "Geez. Please don't bring up anymore of the past, Sakura."

"Alright, Illya," agreed Sakura. "I won't bother you and your friends anymore. Just call on me if there is anything else I can help with. Shirou wanted me to make sure that everything goes well with your new friends, and that's why he made sure the crepes were extra special today."

"Really! Just go already!" complained the little girl.

Sakura left giggling all the way back to the kitchen.

Finally left alone, Illya slumped back on her chair in exhaustion.

"It's nice having a lot of family care about you like that," commented Ruby.

"Eh?" said Illya, then thought about it for a few moments before smiling. "Yeah, I suppose it is."

"They're really nice people," added Penny.

"So what about you, Ruby?" asked Illya, determined to learn more about her new friend. "What about your family?"

"Me?" said Ruby. "Well, my family is great! Actually, my sister, Yang and I were... supposed to..." She stood up so quickly that you would think her chair was on fire. "GAAAH!"

Penny and Illya both looked perturbed and surprised at the sudden action.

"I forgot I was supposed to meet them upstairs! Weiss will get so mad at me for being so late!"

Ruby grabbed her head with both hands in worry, before remembering that she was in the company of her new friends. "What am I saying?! I can't just ditch you guys."

"It's alright," smiled Illya and tried to reassure her friend. "You were supposed to meet with them first anyway. I'm just glad that we got to know each other and be friends right now." Even though Illya felt a bit sad saying so, she didn't want to keep her new friend from her obligations.

Meanwhile, even though she got encouraged to go, Ruby felt that doing so wouldn't make her a very good friend. It was then that she thought of a brilliant idea and said, "I know, why don't you two come with me?"

Illya was stunned at the unexpected invitation. She was not entirely sure about meeting new people, especially a whole group of them. "I don't know…"

Penny, ever excited to make new friends, said, "Oooh, I'd love to meet them!"

Both Penny and Ruby then smiled and focused on Illya, waiting for her to say yes. The new feeling of concentrated peer pressure was putting a strain on Illya's ability to refuse. She finally agreed after she could no longer bear the expecting gazes of her friends.

"Are you sure I won't be a bother?" said Illya sheepishly, as the three walked to the stairs. "They're all older than you, right? Maybe they won't like having a child like me around…" She was holding on to her skirt nervously as she said so.

"Don't worry," said Ruby with a smile. "I'm sure everyone will just love you!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Have been busy with Tree of Savior and other stuff lately. But I may start posting more soon since the beta is about to end. That is unless, I get in the Overwatch Beta.**

 **As always, please read and review.** **It will help me if you can point out some mistakes in spelling and grammar as well.**

 **You can check my profile for updates.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

* * *

"Ruby Rose! Just where have you been?!"

Those were the words that greeted the red-hooded Huntress-to-be when she finally reached her friends table. It seemed that Weiss had acted about much as was expected at the tardiness of her leader.

"We've been calling you on your scroll this whole time," said Weiss. She gave Ruby her usual glare of annoyance as she had stood with her arms crossed over her chest and waited for an explanation.

"Haha… It looks like I forgot my scroll at the dorm when I was running to get here before lunch was over…"

"That was over an hour ago!"

Team JNPR and the rest of Team RWBY watched as Weiss berated her partner on the values of punctuality and whatnot. All of them were sitting down on their table, not wanting to cut in on the lecture as they were basking in the afterglow of their meals. It would take a few minutes before Weiss was satisfied with scolding Ruby.

"Just what have you been doing all this time?"

"I… made some new friends," a hesitant Ruby answered.

Weiss raised an eyebrow at her. "What? Who did—,"

"Salutations!" said a curly orange-haired who had seemed to have suddenly popped out behind Ruby.

The sudden appearance of the girl caused Weiss to take a step back and let out a sound of bewilderment. "H-Hello…?"

Everyone else blinked owlishly in surprise at the new arrival.

"I'm Penny. It is a pleasure to meet you!"

"It's… nice to meet you too," said Weiss in an unsure tone. "Uhmm… have you been behind Ruby all this time?"

"Why yes," smiled Penny. "We have been waiting for you to finish your talk with Ruby since the beginning."

"Did you say 'we'?" asked Pyrrha.

To everyone's surprise, the head of a small white-haired girl had peeked out from behind Penny. They saw that she was grabbing onto the taller girl's back as she sheepishly looked at all of them whilst trying to hide the rest of herself like a cautious little animal.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Illya," gestured Ruby. "Illya, I'd like you to meet everyone." She held out her hand towards the small girl.

Seeing her chance, Illya slowly took Ruby's hand and walked shyly in front of Penny in order to properly introduce herself. She took a deep breath to calm herself before she curtsied towards Ruby's friends and said, "Hello, my name is Illyasviel von Einzbern. It is a pleasure to meet you all."

At first, Illya's introduction was met by stunned silence, but then a squeal erupted from somewhere. A flash of yellow passed before everyone's view of the small girl and they found Yang had suddenly grabbed the child into a tight hug to her chest.

"Oooh! You are just so precious!" said Yang excitedly. "I can't help myself. You are just sooo cute!" She nuzzled her face roughly over the silky white hair and continued to tightly squeeze the little girl in her arms. "This is so much better than hugging a stuffed toy!"

Illya, on the other hand, was trying very hard to free herself from the sudden glomp, as she was having a difficult time breathing from Yang's generous affection… and bosom. Her actions though, proved futile in the face of a cuteness overloaded yellow berserker.

"Yang!" shouted Ruby in a panic, catching the attention of her sister. "I'm about to lose my new friend!"

Looking down at the girl in her arms, Yang now noticed that the child was no longer struggling away from her and felt unhealthily limp. "Oh, woops…" she said as she finally let go of Illya.

After being released from the jaws of death, Illya fell towards the ground, but thankfully, Penny was there to catch her. The lack of oxygen had left her in a daze and she had thought for a moment that she saw the blurred forms of her parents reaching out to her.

"Mama? Papa…? Are you here to come get me now?" she mumbled incoherently to herself as her vision continued to spin.

Ruby quickly went beside the little girl and started fanning her with her hands. "C'mon Illya, everything is okay. You're gonna be fine." She gave Yang an accusing glare after she said so.

"Ahaha…" Yang looked away guiltily at that.

The rest of the girls started coming over quickly and also had begun fussing over the child.

"Is she okay?"

"Omigosh, she's so adorable!"

"Can I hold her next?!"

"Her hair's the same color as yours Weiss."

They all crowded over the small child until Ruby had to ask everyone to give Illya some room to breathe. She had to shoo them away from her new friend so that she could recover better. It took a minute or two before Illya was well enough to sit with them, and another minute to get everyone to hold themselves together from fawning over the poor girl.

Penny sat in a chair next to Ruby, while Illya took it upon herself to take a seat on her first friend's lap. Her near death experience by hugging had left her cautious of everyone else, and although she was feeling much better, she still felt a little anxious due to the envious glances a certain blonde was giving her and her friend.

"So your family runs this establishment?" asked Blake after they had heard Ruby's story of how she met her new friends. They had also managed to introduce themselves to one another properly.

"Yup!" smiled Illya. "Shirou does most of the cooking but Sakura also helps most of the time. Oh, and I guess Rin helps out with that too on occasion." She drank from the juice they gave her through a straw, which the ladies found quite endearing for some reason, after she had answered.

"What about that short blonde girl I met who said she worked here?" said Jaune. The boy had not seen the unexpected mentor of his since that first time they had met.

Illya tilted her head at him. "Oh? You mean Arturia? That's surprising since she only comes here for some small errands and things from time to time."

Jaune looked a bit glum at that. "I was kinda hoping I could to thank her in person for the advice she gave me."

"I could tell her for you," offered Illya. "But you might start seeing her more around here soon. At least, once Rin is finally able to convince her to start working as one of the maids here."

"Is there a reason as to why she's not currently working as part of the staff here?" questioned Pyrrha curiously, more than a little bit interested at the Jaune's benefactor.

"Well… Arturia isn't really fond of the idea of dressing up as a maid." Illya thought of how badly the Servant had refused when Rin had tried to press her into the service. The King of Knights had even brought forth her sword against the maid costume that Rin had in her hands to stop her from coming anywhere near her. It wasn't until Saber had told her Master that she would have to use a Command Spell on her to dress up as a maid before Rin had to drop the matter. "We haven't given up on her yet though. After all, Sakura and I have already finished making her uniform," said Illya happily.

For a while, the group chatted casually about Illya and her family's establishment. They talked about mundane every day events of their lives like some of their favorite foods and such. That was until Weiss decided to voice out something that has been nagging at her since she saw the little girl.

"You know," began Weiss. "I've been wondering this for a while, I noticed that you seem to be very familiar with the manners of the upper class. It kind of bothers me that I don't know of any families by the name of Einzbern, considering I've met more than a few influential people before."

"Are you saying she's related to you Weiss?" said Ruby.

"No! Just because we both have white hair, it doesn't mean we're related!" yelled Weiss at Ruby in annoyance, before turning back towards Illya and asking unsurely, "…Are we?"

Illya giggled at that. "No. I can assure you that our families have no relation in any way." Her deep crimson eyes looked delightfully at the curious light-blue eyes watching her. "The Einzberns are not a family you would ever want to be related to."

That answer caused the surrounding people to give the girl an uncomfortable and perplexed expression as they did not know what she meant by that.

Illya seems to have noticed her slip of tongue and decided to steer the conversation away from dangerous matters. "Since I've talked a lot about myself, I'd really like to hear more about you guys," she said with child-like glee. "What are your lives like here in Vale?"

"Our lives are awesome!" declared Nora. "We're Huntsmen and Huntresses, hunting down Grimm and beating the snot out of them to protect the world from devastation~!" The Valkyrie stood on her chair proudly at that.

Ruby also chimed in, "To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils with Arms and Dust!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Nora!"

"Ruby!"

Syncing their movements, the two continued saying together with arms locked together, "Teams RWBY and JNPR blast off at the speed of light! Surrender now or prepare to—"

"Okay, okay! She gets it already! Please stop it you two with your childish antics," cut in Weiss, who was red from embarrassment. She could clearly see that the entire floor had become an audience over the loud proclamation that the two were passionately spouting. It was bad enough that people had started standing from their seats to get a good look at just what was happening at their table.

"Please sit down, Nora," sighed Ren. "You're disturbing the other customers."

"But we were just about to get to the good part," pouted Nora.

"Hehe…" Illya started giggling slowly, and then laughing out loudly at them. "Hahahaha! I'm really glad," she said while trying to hold back the tears from laughing. "You guys are really interesting. I'm really happy I met you guys."

"Indeed," agreed Penny, holding the squirming little girl gently in her hands. "Everyone seems so lively."

"Well at least _some_ people appreciates us," said Ruby at Weiss.

"I'd appreciate you more if you'd stop embarrassing me," answered back the Schnee heiress.

After regaining her composure, Illya decided to ask them more about what they said. "So everyone here are hunters whose job it is to fight off those monsters outside?"

"Yeah!" answered Nora proudly.

"No," said Ren.

"Technically… we aren't yet," answered Yang towards Illya's puzzled look. "We're still students training at the academy so you really can't call us that yet. But we do still fight the Grimm in some occasions."

"I see…" mumbled Illya. "Does that mean you're all pretty strong?"

"Of course!" said Yang happily. "If you've got problems with Grimm, just give big sister here a call and I'll bust them up for you." She stuck out her chest in confidence, trying to look good in front of a cute kid.

Everyone else gave their own sentiments about how they would fight off the Grimm that would dare to scare the little girl, trying to one up each other on how better they would be at it. Illya, however, had other thoughts in mind besides the Grimm.

"So can you guys tell me more about being Huntsmen and Huntresses," she asked innocently, a dangerous glint present in her eyes. "I'd really like to know what makes you guys so strong…"

* * *

In the dark of the night, a Dust shop was broken into. Sounds of glass breaking and furniture getting tossed around came from the closed store. A dozen White Fang members scattered throughout gathering all the Dust they can pack, while several others kept watch outside, unaware of the shadowy figure looking down on them from above the building.

"Looks like another easy job," said one of the watchmen.

"Think we'll have enough Dust soon?" asked the other.

"Who knows? Probably we'll have enough once that Schnee shipment comes through."

"Oho?" came a voice from the shadows on the street. "Now that is certainly some interesting bit of news."

The two and the rest of the guards stiffened. "Whose there?! Show yourself!" They aimed their guns at the approaching silhouette of a man, who lit his cigar causing the embers to light the features of his face and the bowler hat he wore.

"Torchwick?" said one of the guards. "Roman Torchwick?"

Roman smiled at that. "That's my name. Please don't wear it out," he said as he took off his hat and made a bow.

The guards lowered their weapons as the man walked up to them. "Just where have you been? The boss has had us searching for you ever since you vanished."

"She's going to want to talk to you about just what happened," warned one of the faunus nervously. "I'm not so sure she'll be happy to see you."

"Nice to know that she cares." Sarcasm laced Roman's words as he went behind two of the guards and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "But you know what?" he whispered. "You can tell her I've got a new boss."

The two guards widened their eyes at that before Roman grabbed their heads and knocked them out together. Roman flicked the ash from his cigar on top of one of the men before turning around to see that the rest of the watchmen were already in the same condition. Rider stood in before him, waiting for his signal to clear out the rest inside the building.

"They're all yours, Miss Rider," he gestured graciously.

Rider nodded and entered the building alone.

"I have high hopes that this will go better than the last time," said Roman seemingly to himself.

Three people wearing visored Barbuta helmets came up to him from the streets. They were garbed in blue cloth with steel armor covering vital areas.

"Somehow, I doubt were going to get our asses kicked this time around," said the rough voice of one of the men while kneeling to look down on the body of a White Fang member.

A man was sent flying through the open entrance of the store, landing a few feet away from them. Voices of panic rang from inside the shop, whilst they idly waited and observed.

"I'm not so sure how to feel about this new uniform," said the smallest one, adjusting the straps on his shoulder. "Maybe it'll grow on me."

"Seems like we've got an easy job today," said another. "Miss Rider seems to be doing all the heavy lifting."

"You'll be doing your own sets of heavy lifting, looking at the amount of Dust the boss wants gathered," said Roman. "Now get your butts in gear. It looks like the lady of the shop is done with the cleanup."

No sooner had he said those words, the sultry form of the black-clad fighter passed the store entrance. She motioned for them to indicate that it was all clear. Behind her, only the moans of pain and agony were left in her wake.

"Alright boys," smiled Roman. "Just like the boss said, take only the Dust crystals and leave everything else behind." The others nodded and proceeded into the shop first.

He was about to follow inside when Rider spoke, "My Master also asks that you do not cause the shop any further damage."

Roman's expression soured at that. "You know that's going to just take us longer to do our work?" he asked, to which was only met with a silent stare from the blindfold masked Servant. He sighed, "Fine, fine. I'll tell the boys to be gentle with their work."

That night ended with a few bags of Dust crystals collected by Roman and his crew before the cops had arrived on the scene. The officers would only come to find the battered terrorists at the shop, and promptly arresting them for the suspected robbery of the store.

Unfortunately, the captured criminals would escape on their way to the police station. The assailants that attacked the police transports were suspected to be more members of the terrorist group.

The news would soon spread throughout the city of how White Fang members were found at the crime scene and how they were now suspected of the chain of robberies that has happened all over Vale. Although, information about Roman Torchwick's return would only be known to Cinder and her group.

* * *

*BAM!*

Part of the table dented and scorched at the fist that smashed into it. Cinder Fall fumed in silent anger from the news one of her minions had brought her. The messenger took a silent step back from the heat emanating from the woman in front of him.

"Tell me again just exactly what you saw," said Cinder.

The faunus gulped. "W-we saw Roman Torchwick, Ma'am! He came up to us and knocked us out before we could do anything!"

Cinder gritted her teeth. "And was there anything else? Did he say anything vital before all of you failed marvelously," she said in a dark tone.

"H-he said he had a new boss!"

That caused Cinder to narrow her eyes at the man. "Who?"

"…I'm sorry, but he didn't say."

Cinder closed her eyes and took a breath to relax herself, while mentally complaining about the incompetence of the White Fang. "Was there anyone else with him, or did he manage to take out all of you by himself?"

Surprisingly, the man was able to get control of himself long enough not to stutter his next words, "There… was a woman."

"Hmm?" That caught her attention. "And what can you tell me about this woman?"

"The others said that a blind woman wearing a black outfit came alone into the shop. It was then that things started getting out of control. They said she attacked them so fast that they couldn't even see her most of that time."

"A blind Huntress?" said Cinder with a frown. "That would explain your failure but that doesn't mean Roman would be working with one."

"We're not sure about that," answered Mercury, who had just arrived in the room together with Emerald. "Just got the police report saying that an unknown party was suspected to have foiled an attempted robbery by a group from the White Fang. There was zero mention of a Huntress working with the cops. Huntress or not, this woman is most probably likely to be working with our poached employee." He held out his scroll and sent it out.

Cinder's scroll beeped in response to receiving the file. She took out the electronic device and quickly opened the file to read it.

After waiting for a while for Cinder to finish reading the report, Emerald asked, "What do you think this means?"

Cinder strode pass all of them. "It _means_ we have another player on the field…" she said ominously.

* * *

"The chain of Dust robberies are now known to be due to the actions of the terrorist organization known as the White Fang. The police reports have indicated that the group was found out when an earlier robbery attempt went awry, resulting in the immediate arrest of the criminals. It was, however, unfortunate that the culprits were able to escape when more members of the group made an organized assault on the police transports holding their comrades. Witnesses report that—"

The news reporter's voice was cut off as Yang turned off the screen. "Okay, everyone ready to go?" she asked her team mates who were watching and relaxing in their dorm room.

"Hey! I was watching that," grumbled Weiss.

"We'll be late if we don't get a move on right now." Yang stood, hand on her hips. "And weren't you the one who woke us all up early just so we could go to the docks later?"

"I still don't get why you want to spend our Friday afternoon visiting the smelly dock." Ruby said as she lay sprawled on her bed.

"Because it's the Vytal Festival!" said Weiss delightfully. "A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world. There will be dances, parades, a tournament!" She spun herself like a ballerina as she said so.

The unexpected pleasant mood her partner was in, left Ruby looking at her with slight disbelief. "I don't think I've ever seen you so happy Weiss. It's kind of weirding me out…"

"That still doesn't explain why we have to go to the docks with you," said Yang.

"Well, I heard that the students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. As a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom."

Looking up from the book she was reading, Blake said, "She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament."

"Ah! You can't prove that!" denied Weiss.

Ruby and Yang both gave the heiress a cold stare. They were after all going to spend their precious day off from school on something that seemed pretty underhanded.

"Ahaha…" Weiss could not endure the accusing looks. "H-how about I treat you all to lunch today at the café before we go there?" she said, trying to placate them with bribery.

The bribe was a success.

Yang and Ruby both changed their expression to an elated one.

"Ooooh! I think they have the sundae special supreme today! I'll have that for dessert after ordering that Omurice that Illya said was really good."

"Do you think she'll be there today?" asked Yang excitedly. "I want to try feeding her soft serve ice cream!" The girl was blinded by her delusions as she thought about the image of her wiping the food off of the child's mouth. "Ah, so lovely, so delicious…"

Weiss sighed in relief. "Well let's get going then. We don't want to be late."

Greatly looking forward to the treat, Ruby and Yang left the room first while enthusiastically talking about what they planned on eating first. Leaving Weiss and Blake to follow them.

"Are you coming, Blake?" said Weiss, as she waited by the door.

"Yeah, I'll catch up to you guys in a minute or two." Blake was putting back her book in her shelf and was fixing the rest back in order.

"Okay, just don't keep us waiting."

The door closed, leaving Blake alone in the dorm room. After making sure the footsteps of her team mate had long faded, Blake walked to the center of the room and turned the news back on. On the screen, the reporter was still giving information about the White Fang.

"With confirmation from the authorities, it is now believed that the White Fang may have gathered in large numbers in the City of Vale. It is still unclear as to why they have been stealing a great amount of Dust, and there have been disturbing rumors of something possibly more sinister than their normal goal of fighting for faunus rights."

Blake looked sullenly at the news. "Adam… just what is going on now?"

* * *

"I'm sorry but Illya is helping out my sister with something at home right now."

Yang was devastated by those words from Sakura. "Oh… I guess there's no problem with that," she said gloomily.

"Uhm… are you okay?" Sakura questioned worriedly.

"Sure! I'm fine!" smiled Yang, although her eyes were a bit too hollow. "It's not like I was looking forward to some healing time with a little ball of cuteness. I mean… I'm not really bothered at all by not meeting her..."

Sakura felt sorry for the blonde girl by just looking at her so she offered, "How about I show you some pictures of her in some of the costumes we made together instead?"

As if a light has been switched, Yang's face shone brightly with glee. "Really?! You have photos of her in cute little outfits?!" She pressed close to Sakura, breathing a bit roughly. "I would love to see those! Please let me see them!"

Sakura giggled nervously at the sheer enthusiasm Yang was leaking out. "I'll bring them out later once I get a break. In the meantime, would you guys care to order first?"

By now, Team RWBY has become one of the regulars at the café and were quickly able to order their food. They also usually had the same table available to them whenever they are at the café. Sakura had taken gone off to process their orders but she had said that someone else would most likely deliver their food since she the place was slightly packed due to Vytal Festival and it being the start of the weekend.

"You were acting too crude, Yang," chastised Weiss at her team mate. "You should really observe proper behavior when in public."

"Oh?" Yang raised an eyebrow at her. "So you don't want to take a look at those photos then?" she asked, remembering just how Weiss' fingers secretly twitched towards Illya every time she made an adorable expression.

The question caused Weiss to look away with reddened cheeks. "W-what? I never said I didn't want to see them…"

Yang smirked in triumph. "It seems that the Ice Queen's heart was melted by a little snowflake."

"Stop calling me 'Ice Queen!'"

While Yang was kept teasing Weiss, Ruby was catching up on recent events on her scroll and Blake was content on reading one of the books the café had.

"Huh?" Ruby seems to have found something interesting on her scroll. "That's weird…"

"What's weird?" asked Blake over her book.

"It says here that the guy I almost caught called 'Roman Torchwick' was seen at one of the places the White Fang had been robbing," answered Ruby. "The weird thing is, they're saying that he was one of the suspects who may have fought with the White Fang over the robbery."

"I guess it is kind of strange when two different groups try to rob the same place," agreed Yang.

"It wouldn't be strange at all," said Blake. "The White Fang would never work with some despicable human like that Torchwick guy."

Weiss rolled her eyes at that. "How would you know? The White Fang are probably as bad as him or possibly even worse. I wouldn't be surprised if they were all working together for plotting some nefarious deeds to ruin our peace." She said so surely, unknowingly causing Blake to clench her teeth in frustration.

"The White Fang are not as bad as you make them out to be," said Blake testily. "They're only like this because they are the product of the kind of environment a lot of faunus have been forced to live in." She now closed her book and glared at her friend angrily.

Surprised by that unusual display of emotion from her friend, but not willing to give up on her opinion, Weiss answered back loudly, "The White Fang is filled with nothing but degenerates who are a cancer to the world of Remnant. Any faunus that joins them are supporting all the damage and violence they have caused on others. Those faunus should be ashamed of themselves on just how much they are hurting the rest of us who are living peacefully and minding their own business."

*Sniffle*

That sound caused the arguing teens to stop glaring at each other and now noticed that a raccoon-eared maid faunus was standing next to them with some of their orders. There were tears building up in her eyes, while her raccoon ears drooped down despondently, and it also looked like she sniffing back her runny nose. All in all, it was clear to everyone on the table that the maid was trying to hold back from crying.

"H-here's y-your…*hic* order," she said shakily.

Weiss quickly realized that what she had said was definitely not proper behavior one should display in public. "H-hey, I-I wasn't talking about you or faunus in general!" she denied, trying hard to calm the woman before her. "It's just the faunus in the White Fang who are rotten terrorists who don't care about anyone but themselves! They're all just a bunch of no good criminals who doesn't deserve to be happy." This only made things worse, as the maid was now shedding her tears in full force down her cheeks, causing Weiss to panic. "Ooooh! Please stop crying…" she begged.

"I-I'm sorry… *hic**hic* I'm showing something unreasonable to our customers…" answered Euly trying to give them a smile, only for it to end up showing her depression. "P-please excuse me!" She said before running away from their table, all the while, getting curious looks from the other customers on the floor.

"Wait!" Shouted Weiss with her hand reaching out for the disappearing figure of the maid. "Come back! Please don't misunderstand meee!"

It was too late. Only the sounds of chattering from amongst the customers on what happened could be heard. Weiss was left gaping dumbfounded for a moment at what just happened.

"Wow Weiss…" said Yang. "Just… wow."

Yang's response broke Weiss free from her trance. "Don't give me that! You saw everything, I wasn't talking bad about her or the faunus at all!" she defended, but sounded more like pleading. "I was only telling the truth about people from the White Fang."

"Did you ever consider that maybe she had someone who may have been or possibly still is part of the White Fang?" said Blake, whose temper was now gone due to the current event.

Weiss thought carefully about that. She wasn't sure how to feel about that. After all, she considered anyone related to that group would all be the same and wanted to wipe humanity off the planet. But it was also a fact that she couldn't picture the faunus who had served them so joyously every time they came here to be in anyway associated with the White Fang.

Taking her silence as confirmation, Blake said, "Not all faunus join the White Fang out of hate you know?" To which, Weiss gave her a look of disbelief.

"Preposterous!" said the Ice Queen. "Why else would you join such a despicable group of terrorists?"

Blake sighed. "There are some who join out of desperation. While there is less discrimination than before," Which is ironic considering it was due to the work of the White Fang. "Places like these are still few and far between. Most other places are still reluctant to hire faunus workers and the places that do aren't exactly giving them equal treatment. There are a lot of cases where faunus join the White Fang out of necessity."

"And how would you know that?" huffed Weiss.

"I… read it in a news article once." Blake shifted her eyes somewhere else as she said so.

Yang decided to finish the discussion, since her food was starting to get cold. "In any case, I think you're going to have to say sorry to the poor girl later." Weiss pouted at that.

"She's a really nice girl too you know," added Ruby, staring dissappointedly at her partner. "She always made sure to get me an extra serving of dessert…"

Weiss couldn't handle the overwhelming pressure from her friends. "Okay, okay! I'll go and apologize to her later," she sighed in defeat. "Although I still think I did nothing wrong…" The girl grumbled to herself.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **It looks like I've gotten really rusty at writing since I've started playing ToS. I'm having a hard time writing smoothly or continuously. This probably means I'll have made a lot of mistakes. If you can point those out then I'll see what I can do to fix them.**

 **Also, sorry for the lack of action. I'm gonna get to it in the next chapter hopefully. I am having a case of writer's block so its going at a snails pace right now. There is also the fact that I am having problems deciding on what to do with the pairings as of now, since it's almost time for me to cement the relationships. I'm gonna be posting up a poll to help me see how everyone feels about them, but I may not follow them anyway. I just want to see what camp everyone belongs to.**

 **As always, please read and review.** **It will help me if you can point out some mistakes in spelling and grammar as well.**

 **You can check my profile for updates. This will also be where the poll is and will last about less than a week, since I need to start on the story.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

 ***This is sort of a rough draft since I feel like I still need to work on this. There have been circumstances that prevented me from working on this in the right state of mind.**

* * *

It took Weiss a bit of time before she went to apologize to their server and the rest of the staff for her improper behavior, mostly due to the fact that she was unsure of what to say. In the end, she managed to say sorry to Euly and Sakura, who was comforting the distraught maid at the time.

The situation was very awkward for everyone involved, but it was more or less resolved after Euly accepted Weiss' apology.

"It's good that you've got that over and done with." Yang said as their team were now heading back to Beacon. "I'd hate to be banned from there like Cardin's team."

"It was a simple misunderstanding," huffed Weiss.

"I'm just glad everything's fine now," said Ruby.

Weiss stopped cold in her tracks. "No, everything is most certainly not fine. This is all the White Fang's fault."

"Weiss," sighed Yang. "Didn't you promise not to talk about them anymore?"

"I only promised the staff at the café that I wouldn't speak about them there. And besides, if the White Fang hasn't been causing trouble lately, I wouldn't have made Euly cry in the first place."

"Well at least she admits that she made the maid cry..." Ruby whispered to Yang.

Not hearing that comment, Weiss had a thought and said, "Maybe if we put a stop to the White Fang's robberies…"

Yang groaned. "Please don't tell me you're planning on playing the vigilante." She could already see the wheels turning from inside that Snow white hair of their Ice Queen. She turned to their other team mate and said, "C'mon Blake, tell her how that would be a bad idea."

To Yang's surprise, Blake was actually silent and contemplating it.

"It… might not be such a bad idea," said Blake.

"Thank you!" smiled Weiss in triumph.

"If we could catch the thieves then maybe it will be enough to stop the White Fang from continuing their activities here, or at least make them hesitant enough not to do it so brazenly."

Blake said it from a logical perspective, but she had other thoughts as to why she was in agreement with the idea. She wanted to know why the White Fang needed so much Dust in the first place when they never needed that much before. There was also the faint hope that maybe the thieves weren't really members of the White Fang.

"But we wouldn't even know where they would show up," stated Ruby.

Weiss smirked, "You can leave that part up to me. It would be easy enough for me to find out which stores the Schnee company just recently delivered to."

"Then what about spying on the competition for the Vytal Festival?" asked Yang.

"I wasn't going to spy on them!" Weiss looked offended at Yang's comment. "Like I said earlier, I was merely going to try and welcome them." The rest of her team mates just gazed at her doubtfully. "Besides, this is much more important than that. My integrity— I mean, the reputation of the innocent faunus of Vale is at stake."

"Weiss' integrity aside," said Blake, causing the Ice Queen to pout at her. "Stopping the White Fang can only be a good thing for the whole city. If we have a chance of doing so, then the least we could do is try."

Ruby and Yang looked uneasily at each other but both nodded their consent.

"Do you think we might need some help with this?" asked Ruby.

"They're just a bunch of low-class thieves," said Weiss indignantly. "I doubt they could put up much of a fight against a team of Huntresses-in-training. We'll be sure to wipe the floor with those rabble."

* * *

"We'll be going now then."

Rider was bidding farewell to Rin and Shirou at their home. She was going with Roman and the rest to intercept another robbery by the White Fang.

"Be sure to tell me if you have any problems with the Dust crystal," said Rin. "I'm confident I made it perfectly, but I can't really say I know enough about Dust yet to be fully sure."

Rider touched the Dust crystal that was embedded on to her leather choker. "Understood," she said.

"Be careful, Rider," said Shirou.

"I am a Servant, Shirou." Rider said impassively. "There is no need to worry. As long as I have Sakura as my Master, I will perform my duties to my utmost."

Shirou smiled warmly at her, impressed at how dedicated she was. "I know how strong you are, but that doesn't mean I would stop caring about your well-being. Please continue to do your best and return safely. I'm sure Sakura would say the same thing in my place."

Turning her back on the two, Rider said curtly, "We will return shortly." She had faced away from them to hide the small blush that had appeared on her face.

After finally having seen there comrade off, the Master and Servant went back inside their home to Rin's office. It was just the two of them and Illya at the house right now since Sakura and the rest of their faunus were finishing with closing up at the shop. Saber was currently out of the city, culling the Grimm that had encroached near it.

"Do you think she'll encounter any problems?"

Rin looked up at Shirou's question as he handed her a cup of tea. "If it's the same as last time, then I doubt they'll have much to deal with," she said casually. "You shouldn't worry too much."

Shirou knit his eyebrows, still worried. "What if she encounters these hunters we've heard about?"

Rin sighed, placing her teacup on her desk. "If they haven't done anything about the robberies before, I doubt they'll start taking action now. So far, they only seem content in handling problems regarding these Grimm."

"I guess that's true…"

"Like Rider said, she is a Servant, Shirou. I doubt she'll encounter any problems that she wouldn't be able to deal with." Rin stated that fact with certainty.

Shirou still felt uneasy about not knowing the capabilities of their enemies, but he supposed there wasn't anything much he can do about that until they actually fight the warriors of this world. He just wished that it really wouldn't come to that since he had heard that these people are the protectors of the world. It was there duty to defend the people from the monsters, something he could honestly relate to.

"Do we really still need to hide ourselves?" He said while grimacing. "Wouldn't the people here be more willing to help us if we told them our plans?"

Rin scanned her lover's face calmly. "You know why we can't Shirou," she said in a serious tone. "You understand that better than most of us."

He had shared some of the memories that Archer had with her and the others. It wasn't a very happy experience for any of them. EMIYA had done everything he could to try and save everyone. More than a few of those memories involved being a little too naïve at trusting the world. The betrayal counted very heavily in influencing how the Counter Guardian came to be the way he was.

Shirou balled his hands into a tight fist. "I do…" It would haunt him in his dreams sometimes, how different he was from EMIYA, but still how close he resembled him. Not just in appearance anymore, but also slowly agreeing with some of his beliefs, which is what scared him the most.

Gentle and soft hands held his cheeks, as Rin turned his face towards hers. "You have Archer's memories, his skills, and his body," she spoke clearly. "But you are still the boy Sakura fell in love with…" She pulled his face down and pressed her warm lips unto his for what lasted like a minute. "The one Saber and I had fallen in love with…"

Shirou held Rin firmly in his arms, just staring at the woman that left his heart aflutter. They continued to gaze into each other's eyes, oblivious to the world around them. Their bodies were warm at their touch and the kiss had left them both quite a bit excited. The man pressed the woman's body closer to him…

"RIN!"

Illyasviel came bursting through the office door.

"How long are you going to keep me waiting?! I can't start working on the Dust crystals until you finish testing them out first!" said the irate little magus.

She glared at Rin who was standing at the center of the room by herself. "What was taking you so long?! And why are you—," Illya gasped as she saw the wall to her right. "Shirou! What happened?! Are you okay?!"

Her Oniichan was, face-first, plastered deep inside the wall, unmoving.

"H-he's just fine, Illya," laughed Rin nervously, her face flushed. "We were just testing out a martial arts move I wanted to try…"

Shirou's body dislodged from the wall, falling heavily to the floor.

"...Yeah, Illya," Shirou laughed monotonously. "Just trying out some new moves…"

It looks like his E-rank luck would be the only thing he could count on to stay the same.

* * *

Team RWBY ran quickly towards their destination. Weiss and Ruby in the lead while Blake and Yang trailed after them. The students had sneaked out of their dorms that night in order to enact Justice upon the White Fang.

"C'mon! We might be able to make it before they strike if we get there a little faster," said Weiss.

The group arrived just a block away from a large Dust shop. They stopped to make sure that they wouldn't be seen by the thieves. Blake moved forward to scan up and down the street before looking closely at the shop.

"It's quiet," whispered Blake to her team.

"I guess we made it…" Yang was panting a little from the rush. "Thought we were going to be late for sure."

"I think we are…" Blake saw the bodies of some White Fang members sprawled nearby the store entrance. "I see a bunch of people from the White Fang—,"

"I knew it! I knew those dirty rapscallions couldn't keep themselves from a freshly resupplied Dust store," said Weiss triumphantly.

Before Weiss could annoy Blake any further, the former White Fang said, "It looks like they're all on the ground unconscious."

"Well that's weird." Ruby scratched her head in confusion. "Did the police get them already?"

"I don't think so," said Yang cautiously. "I don't see them anywhere. Usually they'd be all over this place if they were here already."

The entire street was empty from what they could tell. There were no lights or sirens that are commonly associated with police presence. In fact, the entire area seemed eerily quiet and abandoned. Only the light of Remnant's shattered moon illuminated the place. The store itself was completely dark and even Blake's enhanced vision couldn't see clearly that far. They would have to enter the store if they wished to find out more.

"Do you think maybe we should go in?" asked Ruby.

Slamming her fists together, Yang said, "Well, I don't really see any other options we have."

Everyone nodded their agreement and started walking cautiously towards the store entrance. They made it a few paces from the entrance before a passing shadow from above landed between them and the store entrance.

A woman of divine beauty stood in front of them. The short black dress she wore did little to hide the lascivious curves she possessed, and her long purple hair that almost touched the ground swayed bewitchingly against her body. But what stood out the most to them was the eye cover that almost entirely covered her face.

"Uhm… Weiss," said Ruby. "I don't think she's with the White Fang."

"We can't be sure of that."

"I'm pretty sure she isn't," answered Blake.

The black clad woman stood firmly in place. "I advise you to get away from here," came the weirdly toned voice from their mysterious beauty. "It would be wise for all of you to return home."

Team RWBY didn't really felt like they were being threatened. Actually, the woman's weird tone almost seemed genuinely concerned about them. However, that did little to change the fact that they were being stopped by a suspicious woman from checking on the White Fang.

"Are you a Huntress with the police?" Ruby asked a little too excitedly. The girl does little to curb her admiration from leaking out. It was much the same whenever she met any professional Huntsmen or Huntresses.

The question, however, was met with only silence.

Not bothering with the intimidating presence of the woman, Weiss stepped out and asked, "Are you the one responsible for knocking out these White Fang members?"

A nod came in response.

"Ooookaaay…" said Yang. "That's good enough for me. Let's leave it to a professional to clean up this mess."

She was about to leave before Weiss pulled her back. "Not so fast! Aren't you even a little suspicious about this Huntress?!" she demanded.

"What's there to be suspicious about? It looks like she came, she saw, and she conquered," said Yang. "The robbery has been stopped and the White Fang defeated. I thought that was the whole point of us coming here?" She took a step back from Weiss. "I'd really like to get back and get some sleep already."

"I'm not so sure it's that simple, Yang." Blake was still on guard and stared warily at the blindfolded woman who continued to firmly hold her ground.

"C'mon guys! She's a Huntress!" said Ruby enthusiastically. "It's not like she's out here to steal Dust like the White Fang were."

A man stepped outside the store carrying a box full of Dust crystals in his arms. "Hey Miss Rider, I think we're just about done he—,"

Team RWBY and Rider were all staring at the still form of Roman Torchwick.

"I can see that you're busy. I'll leave you guys alone." Roman made a hasty retreat back into the store.

"I knew it!" Weiss took out Myrtenaster and pointed it straight at Rider. "You may not be with the White Fang, but you're still a thief. As a member of the Schnee family responsible for providing Dust to Remnant's citizens, I will not allow you or your associates to roam free."

"Uh… Weiss?" Ruby tried to calm her team mate down. "Maybe there's been a misunderstanding." She glanced at the unarmed blind woman who made no gesture of attacking them, even after having a weapon brandished against her.

"Misunderstanding…? That was Roman Torchwick carrying a box full of Dust crystals for crying out loud!"

"Maybe he's with the White Fang and she just missed him?" offered Yang weakly.

Blake rolled her eyes at the thought of Roman Torchwick working with the White Fang. "I doubt it."

A commotion rang from inside the store. "Out the back! Out the back! You idiots! The lady has her hands full so we're getting out of here while we still can!" Roman's words were clearly heard among the ruckus inside.

Weiss gave a questioning glare at her two reluctant teammates, as if daring for them to make any more arguments against the facts. It was pretty much clear cut what was happening here.

"Looks like that idea burned to the ground," sighed Yang as she readied her gauntlets.

Ruby and Blake followed suit and took out their own weapons.

"Glad to see everyone's on the same page now," said Weiss.

Team RWBY prepared themselves to face off against Rider. They would need to make this quick if they wanted to catch Roman and the rest of the thieves in time. They believed that wouldn't be a problem since they had the advantage in numbers.

Yang, being the brawler, began the first move and attacked.

She closed in on the enemy and aimed her fist directly for the face. Rider merely shifted her head from the incoming blow, and also countering the yellow-haired fighter with a forward kick that she barely managed to dodge in time. A second kick came quickly after that which Yang blocked with her gauntlets, but the strength of the blow sent her skidding against the ground and back to her team mates.

"Damn, she's pretty strong." Yang smiled as her arms shivered slightly from the blow she had blocked.

"My turn," said Weiss before she took off and thrusted out her rapier at Rider.

Her thrusts came furiously and rained quickly at Rider, causing the woman to slowly move back. However, each and every thrust was dodged as Weiss continued her assault. That didn't detract the Schnee heiress, as she had her Dust readied to fire for an opportune moment.

That moment came and she thrusted out a blaze of fire from the tips of her blade. That seems to have caught her opponent off guard. The fire sizzled and faded soon after, leaving Rider with her arms barely singed after blocking.

"No way…" whispered Ruby in disbelief.

"Her aura's quite something else," whistled Yang, impressed.

Meanwhile, Rider glanced at the arms she used to block the fire. Finally, two menacing long nails with chains attached to them materialized in her hands. She threw the nail-like daggers with frightening speed at Weiss who barely dodged one before deflecting the other with her rapier.

"Tsk!" Weiss was forced to fall back. "She's durable _and_ flexible."

Not settling for standing around anymore, Rider started walking toward the girls with her daggers in hand, causing them to get their guard up. She disappeared in a burst of speed and appeared right above a surprised Weiss with a drop down heel kick.

A pang from hitting metal was heard as her foot connected with Ruby's Crescent Rose, which also caused the small girl's feet to sink slightly into the ground with a grunt. A dust round fired from the deadly scythe at Rider, causing her to twist her body in the air to avoid it. Before she landed on the ground, she sent each of her daggers sailing through the air at both Ruby and Weiss. The daggers were intercepted by Blake and Yang, while their two comrades recovered from the attack.

Weiss and Ruby followed up and charged Rider, who had pulled back her daggers to meet their combined assault. Sparks flew as Rider blocked and dodged the blades that came at her in furious speeds. Her chains rattled and twisted as they deflected the dust rounds aimed at her, but Weiss and Ruby kept attacking regardless.

Rider broke the offensive by tangling her chain on Weiss' foot and pulling her towards Ruby. "Look out!" warned Weiss.

The two collided with each other spectacularly.

More Dust rounds forced Rider to flip away from the downed students. She saw Yang and Blake firing their weapons at her. She moved her grip from the daggers to their chains and whipped them towards the two fighters. The dagger and chains crashed and gouged the street as Rider attempted to hit her moving targets.

Ruby and Weiss got back up and joined in on hailing Dust rounds at the nimble black-clad woman, who kept evading with ease. It didn't take long before the team ran out of ammo and Rider was now at a distance from them, illuminated by the light under a street lamp, no worse for wear.

Team RWBY quickly tried to reload their Dust rounds for another clash, but had stopped when their enemy suddenly sent a dagger at the lamp above her, causing it to spark and the street to darken immediately.

They finished reloading their empty chambers and prepared their defense for any attack from the darkened area they last saw the woman. They waited and waited but an attack never came. It wasn't until Blake sighed that the team finally let their guard down.

"It looks like she's gone," said Blake.

"And so are Roman and whoever else was with him." Weiss added while looking frustrated.

Yang unceremoniously sat on the ground and gave off a big sigh of relief. "Ugh! My arms are still shaking from that kick she gave me!" she complained.

Sirens blared as the light and sounds of incoming police vehicles came from the down the street they were on.

"Uh oh," said Ruby. "I think it's time for us to make our exit too. I don't think it will look good for us if the cops finds us here. The school probably wouldn't be too happy with us being outside at this hour either."

And with that, Team RWBY fled from the scene, leaving only the scars of their battle behind in their tracks. This would only add to the troublesome speculations that the police would have when they arrived at the location.

* * *

"Here, have some tea Rider."

Sakura placed the warm drink on the coffee table in front of her Servant before she poured more for herself and the rest. She sat down alongside her Servant with Shirou, Rin, and Illya. They had just been discussing the recent turn of events that occurred that night.

"So does this mean the hunters are finally starting to move against us?" asked Shirou.

Rider denied this with a shake of her head. "I don't believe so. They had seemed to have been acting on their own accord."

"If it's Ruby and the rest then they're still just students, not fully trained hunters yet," said Illya. "They told me they were still in the beginning of their first year at Beacon so they weren't allowed to go on any missions for now." She nibbled on a piece of cookie that Sakura also brought out for snacks.

"Hmm…" Rin furrowed her eyebrows in thought. "Did they recognize you at all, Rider?" she questioned.

The Servant answered, "The crystal appeared to have worked fine, considering even Miss Blake was unable to recognize my altered voice."

The Dust crystal that Rin gave Rider was made to further hide her identity when out performing her duties as a Servant. It was an item Rin had decided was needed since it wouldn't do for someone like a customer of theirs to recognize their maid.

"That's good," nodded Rin. "As long as our cover isn't blown, then we should be fine." She took a sip of her tea before asking, "How where their combat performance though? Did you have any trouble handling them?"

"I only attempted to delay them so I am not sure I saw the full extent of their capabilities from that short skirmish but I believe that I would have no problems facing them once more if needed to," said Rider modestly. "However, they did manage to surprise me with their usage of Dust."

"Did they injure you?" asked Sakura worriedly.

Rider smiled at that. "It was barely a scratch," she reassured. "My magical resistance is only a rank below Saber's so their Dust was not very effective against me."

"You didn't hurt them though, did you? Ruby is fine, right?" worried Illya.

"No, Miss Illya. I may have landed a blow or two to test out their strength but I can assure you that they were perfectly fine when I left them."

Illya sighed in relief.

Shirou smiled and petted his little sister's head. "I'm glad you made some new friends Illya."

The little girl's face turned red and started pounding no her Oniichan with her two fists. "Don't say it like that, Shirou! You're making it look like I can't make friends!"

The brother only chuckled as he received the small punches of his sibling.

"So do we have enough Dust crystals now, Neechan?" asked Sakura. "Even if Rider is fine, I don't really want us to end up having to fight against the people here." She looked unsure after saying so.

"We nearly have enough," said Rin. "If what Roman said was true, then the next robbery we hijack tomorrow should give us all the Dust crystals we need."

'Hijack?' thought everyone.

But they understood when they saw the gems reflected on Rin's eyes whilst she thought of her victory already.

"Fufufufu… A big load he said…" Rin mumbled fervently to herself. "Cargos full of the finest quality Dust crystals in Remnant… I can't wait for tomorrow."

The rest could only feel their anxiety rising at their current plans.

* * *

"Not that I'm complaining, but tell me again why you invited us here today?"

Jaune asked as the rest of his team were joyfully eating their lunch. They had suddenly received an urgent invite from Ruby to meet up at their usual table at the café. It was unexpected but wasn't too much of a problem for them, especially when Ruby said that Weiss would be paying for their meals.

"And may I ask why Ruby is not with us here again?" added Pyrrha.

Weiss sighed. "Ruby noticed a small dent on Crescent Rose this morning and wanted to fix that first. She'll be arriving shortly, I'm sure."

"A dent?" said Ren suspiciously, having looked up from his meal at that. "That is... surprising. How did she get a dent on something like Crescent Rose?"

There were few things that could cause such damage against a weapon created to fight against Grimm. Ruby was especially careful with her own weapon, not to mention all the various modifications and enhancements she most certainly have done on for her baby. It would suffice to say that she would not have mishandled her weapon in any way that would have resorted to denting her precious creation.

"That's kind of part of what we wanted to talk to you guys about." Yang's smile seem to radiate mischief.

"I don't think I like where this is going…" mumbled Jaune uneasily.

Team JNPR was told the tale of Team RWBY's late night passed as they ate while listening to Blake, Weiss, and Yang's recollection of that night until all their food was gone and only their dessert was left.

"So let me get this straight," said Pyrrha. "All of you snuck out of Beacon last night to try and stop the White Fang from robbing Dust, but when you arrived there, you encountered another group who had dispatched the White Fang already in order to steal from the store themselves. And now you want us to help you on staking out another potential location you've found that may be targeted once more, in case that mysterious blind woman shows up again." She looked steadily at their fellow students. "Is that correct?"

Yang and Weiss both nodded vigorously, while Blake stayed silent.

Pyrrha turned toward her teammates. "Well? How about it?"

"I don't know…" said Jaune. "I mean that woman sounds awfully strong from what you guys told us."

"Oh, please!" huffed Weiss. "We totally could have taken her out by ourselves if we wanted to!"

"Then why do you need our help?" said Ren.

Weiss looked away from them and said, "I-It's just because we want to make sure they don't escape this time…" She wasn't willing to admit that there was a good chance that the battle wouldn't have gone in their favor if they had continued. Their team didn't receive any serious damage from the confrontation but the same could be said for the mysterious woman, who they now understood had only kept them distracted long enough for Roman to get away. Weiss wasn't keen on thinking of what might have happened had they fought head on seriously.

"Sounds fun!" said Nora excitedly. "Nothing like a secret late night expedition to build trust amongst friends!"

"Uh, guys?" said Jaune. "Shouldn't we let the police handle this? I mean we should probably tell them what happened." He really did not want to have any more reason for the school to expel him.

"The police haven't been able to do anything about it much at all," said Blake with a shake of her head. "I'm sure we can handle this much better than they can."

"Yeah!" Agreed Yang wholeheartedly. "C'mon, it's just going to be just like the time during our initiation, our two teams against the world!"

That statement didn't really do much to ease Jaune's anxiety. He could perfectly remember their initiation, and it took him a considerable amount of time to try and forget all the times he could've died then.

"I think… I'd really like it if maybe we had someone more experienced with us," he answered.

Weiss was about to try and throttle him out of frustration into going with them when someone shouted at their direction.

"Hey guys!" It was Ruby and was waving at them fervently, followed closely from behind by someone they know. "Look who I met on the way here!"

Weiss smirked triumphantly back at Jaune. "I believe we found just the right person you were asking for."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This may be the last update for this year. It may be possible that the next one will come in about a month or so. Hopefully I can get it out sooner if my situation gets better. Its not bad enough that I'll stop writing so rest assured I will post an update on my profile if I can't for some time.**

 **I may work on this chapter for a while though since I want to polish it a bit more. I doubt I could even get to that on time though. This ended up a bit rushed is all I can say.**

 **As always, please read and review.** **It will help me if you can point out some mistakes in spelling and grammar as well.**

 **You can check my profile for updates.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

 ***Fresh post.**

 **I advise people to read the author's notes on the bottom before they ask questions.**

* * *

Cold and dark was the night, as the steady ocean breeze made the port of Vale seemingly devoid of any of its morning's usual hustle of activity. The workers and travelers have long since turned in for the night, relaxing at their homes or drinking at a bar far from that place. Only an eerie peace settled around the area. However, the sudden arrival of less than scrupulous intruders had changed that.

The mechanical blades of a plane resounded around the cargo area of the port, followed closely by several more. Once the plane landed, members of the infamous White Fang disembarked, quickly moving towards the precious cargo crates full of Schnee Dust from Atlas.

They proceeded to load up their planes with their stolen goods, never ceasing in their work, unaware of the danger that lurks in the dark shadows. One by one, faunus would disappear as they came to pick up more to load, their comrades failing to notice their dwindling number.

"Hey, where's the other two?" The pilot faunus packing the goods inside the plane finally asked the pair in front of him. He looked around at the other groups and noticed that they were also missing more than a few people of their own.

"Probably went to take a piss somewhere," said a rough looking wolf faunus.

"You shouldn't mind it," added the other, whilst adjusting the loose-fitting belt on his waist. "Here, let me come on up and help you with these." He came on up beside the faunus to proceed hoisting up one of the larger crates they brought.

"Dang, that thing was heavy," said the faunus handling the cargo. "Thanks for the he—" He fell with a thud, face first on the plane floor.

The raccoon-eared faunus stood behind him with a crowbar in his hand. "Plane secured!" he announced.

"I still think we should've just let them finish loading all the stuff up before we did this," said his wolf cohort. "This is the only plane that's filled up right now."

"We're not taking all of the ships, Rud."

Rud took the unconscious faunus who was handed down to him. "Why not? You saw how the boss almost drooled when she heard how much Dust crystals were here. I seriously doubt she'd say no to more."

"Aside from the fact that we don't have enough people who can fly these things, we were told to keep things quick and easy this time around because of what happened last time."

The last time being the interruption of their moral gray area activity by a bunch of trainee Huntresses. Since this would be their last operation, it was decided that prudence and speed be the utmost factor in their plan.

Rud sighed at his friend Thomas. "I guess we can't really complain. With that silent woman around, we don't have to worry too much about taking these guys down."

"That's true," Thomas said more to himself. "You'd think the White Fang would've done something to keep us from doing this. This job is going surprisingly easy."

 _"Get the plane started! We've got company!"_ the voice of Roman Torchwick bellowed over their ear coms.

"You just had to say it didn't you?" Rud stared accusingly at his guilty looking friend.

* * *

It seems like the White Fang wasn't going to take their recent setbacks lying down. They had at least five more planes with fully armed troops converging on the hijacked operation that Rider and her team were at. They must have anticipated this and laid out an ambush.

"Damn."

Roman held on to his hat as he looked up at the planes that were getting near them. He was accompanied by the rest of his faunus crew of three tying up some of the White Fang when they heard the approach of the other aircrafts.

"Will you be able to handle them?" he asked Rider who had appeared from the shadows beside them.

The silent woman gazed at the planes and gave a simple nod. "They won't be a problem," she said unperturbed.

"I'll get a plane loaded and ready just in case," said Roman. "There's a bit too much people here for my liking and it's bound to attract the unwanted attention Vale's _finest_." He said the last word with sarcasm.

Rider nodded once more in response before leaping towards a cleared area of the port where the planes would probably land in.

"A woman of few words, but much action," smiled Roman. "If she couldn't tear my head off with her bare arms, she'd be just my type." The rest of his crew stared at him disbelievingly as he said so. "What? Don't look so surprised! Just start moving the stuff on the plane with the two idiots!"

As they started to get back to their work, Rider had arrived in front of the fast approaching planes and had her daggers materialized already in each hand. She threw them at two of the planes, one for each, piercing its hull and embedding themselves there. With a hand on each chain attached to the daggers, she activated her Monstrous Strength ability that temporarily increases her already high strength by one more rank.

She pulled.

The two planes immediately started to descend forward towards the ground, causing the passengers to jump ship before it crashed. Explosions blew the ships apart once they fell, sending dust and debris all over the place. Fire lit the ground ablaze as the Servant walked through it all, stopping in front of the remaining planes to gaze at them through her blindfold, waiting for them to send down her unfortunate opponents.

To the bewildered spectators, Rider had just taken down two planes and their White Fang crew with barely any effort, while also substantially lowering the fighting force of the opposing enemy. It wasn't every day you see someone do something like that, Huntress or not.

" _That's_ who you want us to fight?!" whispered a certain young blonde Huntsman trainee a little too loudly at the others with him.

He and a group of his comrades laid down watching the whole scene unfold on a rooftop, hiding from view.

"Well we're not going to fight her right now…"

"I'm sorry, were you watching what the rest of just watched?" asked the blonde. "Because I think you just missed the part where that lady just pulled down _two planes_! Two!" As if to emphasize it more clearly he held out two fingers and waved them up and down twice in front of him for everyone to see.

"Oh, don't be such a baby, Jaune," teased Yang. "We're more than a match for her with this many talented people on our side… and you, of course."

"Gee, thanks for that vote of confidence…"

"You worry too much," said Weiss as she continued to watch the scene through the binoculars she brought. "With that many White Fang, I'm sure she'll be in a considerably weakened state, If not beaten by then, when we try to apprehend her. Not to mention we brought a big gun of our own."

"That doesn't seem very fair," spoke Pyrrha, who was secretly pleased with laying down beside her team leader. The red-headed Amazonian warrior princess was not fond of the idea of attacking someone in that state.

It just seemed so… underhanded.

Weiss raised an eyebrow at her in question. "Would you rather us be in a three-way battle with the White Fang and that?" She pointed at the blindfolded woman who had just retracted her daggers and sent a huge chunk of metal that was stuck on it flying at one of the other planes with a kick, which was only narrowly avoided thanks to the pilot.

"I vote for Snow Angel's underhanded plan," Jaune raised his hand as his eyes followed the hunking piece of metal that continued to sail into the sky pass its target, reaching an astonishing height before landing off with a splash into the ocean.

"Same."

"Ditto."

Ren and Nora gave their full support as well, mimicking their leader.

"I told you not to call me that….! And what do you mean underhanded?!"

Pyrrha frowned but nonetheless, could see the point of their plan. Not the ganging up on a weakened enemy, someone who could still probably take on any one of them… Jaune definitely, but the whole fighting on two fronts.

"Don't forget, Pyrrha," said Blake. "We're here to stop and capture the people down there, not to fight. Everyone down there are… criminals." She said the last word grudgingly.

Weiss nodded satisfactorily. "That's right! And as law-abiding citizens and future generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses, it's up to us to put a stop to the wickedness of the White Fang and any others who dare jeopardize the people's safety." Blake's bow twitched slightly in annoyance at that.

"Everyone be quiet! It's about to start!" Ruby said as she watched the scene below them with such giddiness, you'd think she was watching one of her favored weapons channel on TV.

Groups of White Fang started dropping down from the planes, landing just in front of the lone woman. Their guns and blades were pointed at the enemy as they circled around her while the rest of their members continued to pour down from the other planes.

A surprising amount of their soldiers kept appearing. Most likely more of them were lying in wait somewhere farther from the port. They numbered a hundred or so in a rough estimate. It was difficult to tell since more kept arriving, but the area had already plunged into action when the Servant deemed she would wait no longer.

As guns fired, the woman vanished from the sights of the henchmen. She appeared above them, sending her chains flailing through the clustered enemy, instantly knocking out the ones hit directly.

Swords came up as the rest of the faunus charged Rider who had landed from her deadly strike from above. The first to reach her had his throat punched with her fist, the second had a knee to his stomach, and a third received a reverse downward kick to his temple. More continued to follow suit with their downed comrades, as Rider weaved through them like a hot knife through butter with only using her arms, legs, and daggers.

The blades would never even touch her skin, but the guns… she ignored them most of that time. Bullets would just appear to bounce off on contact near her. The mass-produced low powered Dust rounds did absolutely nothing against her, incomparable to the higher quality Dust rounds available to Huntsmen and Huntresses. Even then, her B rank magical resistance would negate most of the damage from those as well.

As the White Fang saw the mysterious woman avoid and shrug off all their attacks, their morale started to buckle. The enemy before them just silently continued to tear through their ranks. Their comrades fell as she passed through them, never once stopping to take a breath, never once stopping to see them drop, and never once stopping against their attacks.

It didn't take long before the rest of them started distancing themselves from the battle. Once a few finally saw how futile it was, they broke and ran. Others soon followed, as they left behind the ones that the Servant had her sights on. Soon, there would be no one else to try and run.

With a thud, the last standing White Fang fell to the ground. Rider stood alone, surrounded by the bodies of her unconscious foes. The burning embers of the wreckage behind her, illuminating her bewitching figure, as sweat slowly glistened and trailed down her skin.

Not even taking a moment to relax her posture, she turned to face the presence she detected a few paces behind her.

"Looks like you've gotten quite a workout," a voice sounded, impressed and a little bit happy. "Can I just say that you look _so_ hot to me right now, and not just because of all the fighting you just did." Yang appeared, her golden hair seemed shining against the light of the flames, a mischievous smile on her face. "And here I thought I was a little firestarter. If only you weren't a criminal we had to catch," Her teeth biting unto her lower lip as she looked at the sultry beauty up and down slowly while saying so. "But then again, that just makes you all the more hotter… and probably gets me a little bit hot too."

"Ugh! Yang!" Weiss walked over with the rest of their team. "I did _not_ need to hear that!"

Ruby and Blake came up close behind the two, their weapons already drawn and primed. It looks like there would be no time for rest for the Servant based on the present company she had.

"Just for the record, I think what you just did was so awesome!" Ruby said as she held tightly on to her Crescent rose.

"Ready for round two?" smiled Weiss in a wicked sort of way. "We brought a few more friends this time around, so there's no escape for you."

Rider noticed the presence of Team JNPR behind her. They had cut her off from her path of escape. She would have no other choice but to fight for the moment it would seem. Having received no damage at all from her brush with the White Fang, she would have no problems in participating in another battle. Seriously hurting the people currently around her though, is not something she wants, especially people she knows.

Injuring your regular customers is highly unprofessional for her job as a maid. What would Sakura say? Illya would be surely angry with her as well for causing her new friends harm.

"I do not wish to harm you," she said, warning them. "Please leave me be."

Her plea was met with abject refusal from Weiss. "You can't honestly expect us to let a criminal like you go? You've stolen Dust belonging to the Schnee Dust Company, my family's company! There is no way that—"

"We'll let you go."

Weiss gave Blake a surprised look. "Wait, what?"

Blake did not falter. "Since you took down the White Fang, we can let you go," she said whilst Rider observed her closely. "But only if you leave the Dust here behind."

Silence followed as Teams JNPR and RWBY awaited a response from the still woman. Tension hung in the air, as the flames around them soon dimmed. Soon, after almost a minute, she replied.

"…I cannot."

And with that answer, Rider's battle for the night began anew.

Yang and Weiss led the assault, both determined to strike first like before. Jaune and Pyrrha followed suit, flanking their enemy. The attacks were swift and unceasing between Yang and Weiss, supported by Jaune and Pyrrha's own weapons. Any counter by Rider was met with a quick block by the two members of team JNPR's shields, while the Yellow and White duo delivered their blows.

That isn't to say that Rider was helpless. On the contrary, every time her blows were blocked by the shields, the bearers would be sent back from the strength behind them. This is where the remaining students from Team's RWBY and JNPR would proceed to fire Dust rounds at her until their friends could get back to the melee. It was all an impressive utilization of their good coordination and teamwork that they are able to push forward with their momentum.

This battle was considerably harder on Rider than dealing with all those small fries from the White Fang. The damage she received from their Dust rounds was small, but she couldn't just ignore these like the earlier ones. It was also unfortunate that, even though she was a Servant, her endurance was only on par with that of Caster, and that's actually higher now when compared to the time when she was under Shinji's control.

She wouldn't be able to afford for things to stay at the current pace for too long.

But she didn't need to defeat the people here, so all she needed to do was break through their offense and escape. Roman and the rest would have escaped by now. There was no need to hold back on her reserve strength any longer, once more she activated her Monstrous Strength ability, increasing her strength to the same rank as Saber's temporarily.

She sensed the weakest among her attackers and sent a powerful kick his way, which he blocked but picked him up from his feet and sent him flying towards his two team mates behind him.

"Jaune!" shouted Pyrrha in worry.

The red-head's momentary lapse in concentration gave Rider an opening and she too was sent back. The Servant now only needed to stop the two others in front of her before she made her escape.

"Ladybug!"

But before she could get to them, the two switched with their team mates at their backs. Ruby was considerably faster than any of the others so she was able to keep up with Rider's attacks without having to worry about trying to block her inhuman strength. Blake's cloning ability also made it harder for her to land a solid hit on the closet faunus.

"Freezerburn!"

At the end of one of Rider's kicks at Ruby, Yang took the blow with her gauntlets, sending the yellow-haired fighter back, and her feet skidding through the ground.

A black glyph like the face of a clock appeared beneath her and eyes turned fiery red as she smiled. "Man that hurts! Let's see if you can take as much as you can dish out!"

To Rider's surprise, Yang moved faster than she'd ever seen her before. A blow like that of a Servant reached her stomach just before she could get her guard up. The impact sent a booming shockwave through her. She made an attack with her dagger and kicked at Yang to fend her away before she buckled and fell on one knee whilst holding her stomach.

"Normally I would say this is overkill but given what I'd just seen, I'm sure you could take it." A new voice Rider didn't recognize cut in.

A girl with dark brown hair wearing an outfit one could only say as "chic" came up besides Team RWBY and JNPR, who were now in front of Rider. The whirring of the gattling gun in her hands began as the mechanism for firing started.

Rider tried to move away but found out that something held her in place. She turned back and saw that her chains and leg were covered in ice. She looked up and saw a triumphant smirk on the face of Weiss Schnee. The title of "Ice Queen" had more merit than what Rider originally thought when she heard them calling the heiress that before.

"Don't die on me now," said Coco Adel as she unleashed a barrage of Dust rounds starting from the ground near her that started running towards her target, tearing through the concrete floor as it trailed.

Strong as Rider's magical resistance as it may be, but even she wouldn't be able to get off lightly against this. It was a good thing then that her reinforcement arrived just in the nick of time.

The Dust rounds clinked and clanged against the barrier between Coco's barrage and Rider. The motorized whir of the gattling gun died down as Coco and the rest of the students from Beacon just stared disbelievingly at the mysterious woman who had swooped down from above and stood firmly and unflinching against the onslaught with not even a shield but just her body, armored as it was.

The newcomer was not tall, but her presence exudes a pressure that none may ignore. She wore shining armor with an old styled dress, made from old-fashioned blue cloth, underneath. Her face was covered by a helmet that matched her shining armor. The appearance shown before everyone could only be called that of a knight, an overwhelming enemy for any and all she would face in battle.

Coco felt the strength emanating from the knight. "Everyone open fire!" she ordered the others quickly.

Together as one, the students from Beacon let loose upon the new enemy. Dust rounds rained down on the area, sending dust and clouds of smoke into the air that hampered visibility. They did not stop firing until every single round in their chambers were spent. Shots continued ringing all over the port until only the clicks of their empty magazines were heard.

"Did we get her?" gulped Ruby, watching the smoking location of their target.

"Stay on guard." Coco had sweat trailing down her cheek as she said so. "I don't who that is, but she's probably as tough as that first one." Her hand clenched tightly on her gun since she did not think for a second that it would be over that easy.

Air pressure sliced over the clouds of smoke, dispersing it quickly, and there stood the knight, with not even a hint of a scratch on her armor. She continued to stand still and unmoving, only her blue dress and the long thin plume of her helmet swayed over the breeze coming from the ocean.

"Are you well, Rider?" she asked her companion on her side, her voice making a slight echo through her helm.

"I thank you, Saber." Putting strength on her leg and arms, Rider broke free in a moment from the ice that had held her.

"Think nothing of it," responded Saber coolly, never once letting her guard down in front of her opponents. "My Master has ordered our retreat. Our objective has been met and there is no longer any need to stay here." Rider nodded at her acknowledgement of the command.

Both Servants turned their backs and simply started walking away.

"Oh, no you don't!" Weiss shouted.

But before the students could run and intercept their fleeing opponents, a line of red arrows blocked their path, which blew up a moment later, causing them to shield their eyes from the light, sound, and debris.

As their eyes were finally able to clear from that shock, they saw that both women were gone from their view. There was not a single trace of them left behind. Only trails of destruction were left in the wake of their earlier presence.

"I can't believe this!" exclaimed Weiss in utter frustration. "They got away again!"

Jaune fell flat on his back on the ground. "Really? Because it felt like we were the ones who got away," he said tiredly.

"But we had her! It would only have taken us a little bit more time until we dealt with that knight as well!"

"Don't kid yourself there, princess," said Coco, who had her gun back to a bag slung over her back. "That knight was anything but weak. Even I'm not confident we could have taken that one by herself."

"Well this turned out to be another mess," quipped Yang as she looked over the devastation all over the port.

"It was fun!" said Nora. "Let's do this again!"

"Please don't," Ren sighed while sitting down.

"Uh…guys?" Ruby tried to get everyone's attention. "We might have a few more problems right now," she said as she pointed at the police who had just arrived and had already gotten out of their cars to scan the destruction and also glared angrily at the students.

"Well at least the White Fang are caught," said Weiss hopefully.

"That may also be a problem…" Blake eyed through the area where the unconscious White Fang were previously. "They're all gone."

"They must have been sneaked off while we were fighting," stated Pyrrha obviously, much to Weiss' increasing frustration.

To finalize everyone's thought at that moment, Jaune said, "We are in so much trouble."

Up on another rooftop, not far from the carnage of the port, a girl's face hidden with her umbrella smiled as she browsed through the images and video on her scroll. She played a video of the knight as she stood against a hail of Dust rounds that should have torn anyone to shreds. After the video ended, she continued browsing through images she took until it stopped on the image of a certain criminal gentleman barking orders.

Her smile faded after seeing that last picture.

After putting her scroll away, she swung down her open umbrella covering her body from top to bottom and vanished from the spot.

It would seem more trouble will follow for everyone involved soon.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This turned out shorter than I thought. Probably because I cut out the part where Coco was talking about being included in Team RWBY's plans at the cafe.**

 **I blame life problems.**

 **I may add some additional info to these notes to answer some general questions from the reviews on this chapter:**

 **1.) When the Servants arrived in Remnant, they found out that they couldn't materialize in spirit form. Hence, you don't see them moving about invisible to the naked eye. Not that you would see them when they _are_ invisible. I'm making this a bit vague but let's just say that something happened that caused them to have physical bodies and are no longer spirits. They still have their strength and contract with their Masters, but their upkeep is no longer required and they may exist even without a contract. While they can pull prana from their Masters if required, they have their own stores available to them. The Masters would have to actively pour their own prana to them though, and only when the Servants ask for it. There are plenty of other examples in the nasuverse of Servants incarnating through various means, and usually with different results. You can think of this as more of the same thing to explain some minor changes to them. There are a bunch of different ones now: Pseudo-Servants, Demi-Servants, and whatnot.**

 **2.) Why did Rider lose? She didn't exactly lose now did she? Her goal wasn't to win or beat down anyone besides the White Fang after all. It's not like it would be the first time Rider had lost to someone else either. Heck, Shirou fought Rider pretty well in the original story. Even if Rider had lowered stats under Shinji, she was still a Servant that Shirou managed to handle okay with minimal fighting experience and sub-par magecraft. It's not that big of a deal to see some people who are stronger than normal Enforcers and had various abilities be able to at least get the jump on a Servant who isn't fighting them seriously. It's not like she's out to destroy them with her other skills.**

 **3.) Team RWBY and JNPR aren't that weak either. I believe they represent much of their class in terms of combat power. Although trainees, they have fought the White Fang and Cinder's group admirably before. As for the full-fledged Huntsmen and Huntresses, I don't think we've seen a lot of them in action besides some small snippets of their abilities here and there. So I'm not entirely sure if Team RWBY and JNPR would fare much better against one. I'm fairly sure they don't have anti-army or anti-fortress destructive abilities though or Masters that act as a huge reserve of prana source.**

 **4.) The Dust rounds and other such special abilities are measured based on their destructive capabilities. An A rank magical resistance I believe should be able to handle or negate anything below its own rank I think. You could gather B rank spells together to make enough damage that it might as well be A rank so you can consider that as well when I'm using Dust in my story. A rank being something like Caladbolg II type damage at full blast.**

 **5.)The way I measure the strength of the characters in this story anyway is by comparing it to my ruler(The Berserker class Servant: Heracles from UBW) in a 1v1 and/or teamfight:**

 **A: How well would the opponent(s) do in straight up fight?**

 **B: What about environmental advantages and such?**

 **C: Are they able to damage him?**

 **D: Are they able to survive or escape?**

 **E: Is it possible for him to be killed (how many times)?**

 **F: Are his opponent(s) not pounded into paste yet?**

 **I take all these and others into account when planning comparing the strength of characters fighting each other and doing different objectives. This will be the point of reference I will use when I try to gauge a Huntsman or Huntress, once we actually see a good idea of how they fight on the show.**

 **Now let us take a look at the Servants:**

 **Saber, Archer, and Rider? Yeah they'd straight up lose against Berserker in a 1v1 no matter how I think of it. Although they would be able to kill him in some situations, the problem is that it won't be enough times to permanently kill the guy.**

 **Saber is damn strong in a straight-up fight, which is why you see most opponents don't go head-on like an idiot against her unless they could win. Rider, is in some ways, like an assassin really, and that's not just the way she dresses. She uses her dexterity and speed to her advantage, along with the terrain. Both she and Archer are weaker compared to other melee fighters, but they do have certain skills they could utilize instead. Archer is in fact lacking in terms of raw stats compared to Rider. He makes up for it with his unique ability, and one could say _only_ ability that is highly malleable depending on the situation.**

 **Also as a final note on this section, I understand that a lot of people will say Servants are stronger or Huntsmen are way stronger, but this is the way I tell the story so you're gonna have to deal with it. The reason I started this story was because I couldn't find anything else to read that matched my preferences with Servants and RWBY.**

 **Besides, if I wanted a straight up slaughter then I would've just put Saitama, Goku, or Gilgamesh on here and do that. A one-sided fight is only interesting for a few times unless it's focused on that theme like One-punch man.**

 **6.) Next chapter will be a debriefing so most of the questions from this chapter will be answered there. It will most likely be by the Team leaders... maybe not too much of Jaune though, more Pyrrha than him I think.**

 **P.S.**

 **I'm leaning on potential crossfics #1,4,7, and 8. If Apocryptha had been completed and fully translated I would be making #9 right now. Can you imagine that?**

 **The Servants taken from the different routes of the 5th Holy Grail War against other Servants! The fights and the drama! Arturia and Mordred's complicated history. Medea's feelings of betrayal against EMIYA. Chu Chulain's, Heracle's and Sakaki Koujirou's wishes. EMIYA's still unknown identity among the Servants that complicates things along with his relationship with Arturia. Their interactions with Joan of Arc and the other Servants of the Great Holy Grail War!**

 **Oooh, how I wish I was writing that.**

 **As always, please read and review.** **It will help me if you can point out some mistakes in spelling and grammar as well.**

 **You can check my profile for updates.**


	15. Servant Stats and notes (Reference)

**This is not a chapter!**

 **Here are the basic stats and notable skills of Servants that I am working with for anyone interested. There is also a small background for the side OC faunus at the bottom too. I'll probably add the Masters one someday.**

 **Feel free to argue corrections about it and such. Although I haven't fully completed this yet, so take that in mind about the blank parts. Mostly, I know that there are more than a few Noble Phantasms of Archer that I haven't put down yet. I'll be updating this sometime as I get more information or add my own.**

 **Archer status:**

Strength: D

Endurance: C

Agility: C

Magical Energy: B

Luck: E

Noble Phantasm: ?

 **Notable Skills:**

Magic Resistance: D (Can deflect A-rank magecraft if he uses Kanshou and Bakuya, which also increases his magic resistance by 1 rank)

Clairvoyance: C (Allows clear vision of distant targets, and improves body movement and vision.) His Clairvoyance, a visual ability also called "Eagle Eye" that affects the accuracy of bows, allows him to execute his "ultra long-range sniping" precisely even against targets moving at high speeds as long as they are within a four kilometer range. With accuracy transcending the realm of men, it is an ability often used for scouting that is able to fully survey the town simply upon looking down from a high location.

Mind's Eye (True): B (A "combat logic" that allows for calm analysis of the situation and the enemy's ability in spite of danger, and consideration of all possible actions in a particular situation. If there is even 1% chance of a comeback, this ability greatly improves the chances of success.)

 **Noble Phantasm:**

Unlimited Blade Works: A Reality Marble that can duplicate any weapon he has seen, but the duplicated weapon has its rank reduced by one. Defensive equipment is also possible, but requires 2X-3X the prana cost.

Gae Bolg – 2 skills: Barbed Spear that Pierces with Death (Anti-unit) and Soaring Spear that Strikes with Death (Anti-army)

Kanshou and Bakuya: The original versions of the swords that reached the realm of the Gods due to human sacrifice, rather than the imperfect projected versions, also have a strong affinity against monsters, allowing them to easily cut down creatures like the Gorgon form of Medusa and the extradimensional evil god summoned by Caster in a single strike.

Rho Aias: A form of seven layered Bounded Field in the shape of an iridescent flower. Each layer has the defensive power of a fortress wall. It is necessary for its user to provide constant magical energy to form the shield, and if it is damaged, they will feel pain and receive damage in accordance.

Hrunting -

 **Rider status: [Stats under Sakura]**

Strength: B

Endurance: D

Agility: A

Magical Energy: B

Luck: D

Noble Phantasm: A+

 **[Stats under Shinji]**

Strength: C

Endurance: E

Agility: B

Magical Energy: B

Luck: E

Noble Phantasm: A

 **Notable Skills:**

Magical Resistance: B

Riding: A+ (Ability to ride all beasts other than dragons.)

Mystic Eyes: A+ (Possesses Cybele can immediately petrify anyone with a C or lower Magic Energy but still possible for B ratings. Those with A rating cannot be petrified, but they are covered in 'pressure' that decreases all their skills by one rank)

Monstrous Strength: B (Increases strength temporarily. An activated ability that increases strength by one rank.)

 **Noble Phantasm:**

Breaker Gorgon: A "mystic eye killer," that acts as a seal

Bellerophon:

Bloodfort Andromeda:

 **Saber status: [Stats under Tohsaka Rin]**

Strength: A

Endurance: B

Agility: B

Magical Energy: A

Luck: A+

Noble Phantasm: A++

 **[Stats under Emiya Kiritsugu]**

Strength: B

Endurance: A

Agility: A

Magical Energy: A+

Luck: D

Noble Phantasm: A++

 **[Stats under Emiya Shirou]**

Strength: B

Endurance: C

Agility: C

Magical Energy: B

Luck: B

Noble Phantasm: C

 **[Stats as Alter]**

Strength: A

Endurance: A

Agility: D

Magical Energy: A++

Luck: C

Noble Phantasm: A++

 **Notable Skills:**

Magical Resistance: A (Almost impossible for any magecraft below A rank to harm her.)

Riding: B (Able to freely manipulate all beasts and vehicles besides mythical and divine beasts.)

Instinct: A (Able to "feel" the best course for oneself during combat. Close to precognition and reduces by half any obstacles to vision and hearing.)

Mana Burst: A (Transfers magical energy into one's weapon and body, and by releasing the magical energy instantaneously, it increases one's ability.)

Charisma: B (Natural ability to command an army and lead a country.)

Lady of the Lake's protection: No body of water can stop her.

 **Noble Phantasm:**

Invisible Air:

Excalibur:

Avalon:

 **Side OC:**

Eugene Moran – a baby-faced squirrel Faunus that acts like a child, even though he is the oldest among the Faunus group. He is about 27 yrs. of age and loves his mother very much. His personality is carefree, gluttonous, and kind.

Rud Luzion – a wolf Faunus with a strong personality. He is 23 yrs. of age and has a strong dislike of women. Temper is always a problem with him, but even though he shouts a lot at his comrades, he cares about them deeply.

Thomas Ground – a somewhat perverted raccoon Faunus. Likes any kind of women, regardless of race. 24 yrs. of age and the older cousin of Euly. He fools around a lot and likes to tinker with equipment.

Euly Ground – a clutsy raccoon Faunus that is 20 yrs. of age. She has a big crush on Rud and constantly tries to get closer to him. Techno savy and very talkative, this makes her a bit of a nerd but her good looks make her a very cute nerd. She gets along well with Eugene because of how immature they act.

Kelly Bianchi – a very mature 22 yr. old fox Faunus. Acts responsibly and tries to get everyone to get along. She takes her work seriously and seems especially well-suited for housekeeping related work. Thomas always jokes around when flirting with her, unaware that the voluptuous woman is interested in him. This makes her very angry at him because of how he hits on other women.


	16. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

 ***Fresh post. May have more than few mistakes here and there. Will update with corrections in several days or so.**

 **FYI this chapter is mostly RWBY focused. Last section is where the Fate group is and it ain't that long I think.**

* * *

"Do you have any idea just how much trouble you kids are in right now?"

Glynda Goodwitch paced back and forth on the opposite side of the table where Ruby was currently seated in. It brought back memories of their first meeting together. Glynda, impressed but very mad, and Ruby, excited and scared but still eating a plate full of cookies… who brought those anyway?

No.

The professor had better questions she wanted to find out right now. The cookies can wait… although there was an oddly familiar scent to them that was making her stomach rumble.

She coughed to herself to reign in her thoughts. "Now what exactly were you students doing there that night?"

"Well… it's a bit complicated." Ruby rubbed the back of her head, as she tried to think how best to explain things.

"Then make it uncomplicated," commanded Glynda, whose stare could probably make even a statue beg on its knees for forgiveness.

"W-we just wanted to stop a bunch of thieves!" stammered Ruby quickly, buckling under the pressure.

"The thieves being the White Fang?"

"Well, yeah," Ruby fidgeted uneasily. "At least... we thought it was just them at first."

That remark lit a curious brow from the professor. The information they had received had all but pointed the White Fang being the culprits behind the string of Dust robberies. Although they received that odd report about a failed attempt, they had considered it inconsequential and had only happened by chance due to a clash with Roman Torchwick and his own band of thieves.

"You encountered someone else?" said Goodwitch, more as a statement of fact rather than a question.

Ruby nodded in response. "We met them the first time when we—"

"The first time?" Glynda adjusted her glasses. "Do you mean to say that this wasn't the only time you students have tried this?" She asked with a glare.

Team RWBY's leader promptly gulped and clenched the edge of her seat. "Ahahaha…" she laughed weakly, trying to dissuade the fear she felt from the professor's tone.

Glynda sighed and shook her head at the recklessness of her students. "Nevermind, please continue."

Glad that the professor was no longer glaring at her, Ruby continued explaining things to her. She recounted the reason why they had planned on stopping the robbery, how they had tracked down the location for the next one, and what happened when they got there.

At the same time, in a similar room at the same building, Pyrrha Nikos and Coco Adel were also both being debriefed of about what had happened at the port. Jaune would have been the one to represent Team JNPR since he was their leader, but his nervousness made him a bit hard to talk to at the moment. People felt he was overreacting a bit.

It wasn't like he was under arrest or had something to hide now, is there?

No one had any problems when they asked Pyrrha to answer the questions in his stead, since she had a better memory and composure of what had occurred. The one to debrief her was also satisfied with that arrangement.

"So what can you tell me exactly about the woman that Team RWBY and your team had fought?" asked General Ironwood, as he stood with his hand behind his back staring outside the window. "You have only said that she was possibly a very strong Huntress working with the criminal known as Roman Torchwick, but I'd like to know more details about her."

The General was indeed very interested to know just how strong this woman was. He had a very good reason to try and find out more about her. That reason was currently lying deep underground beneath Beacon Academy, and he would be shamed if he didn't see a connection right before his eyes.

Prryha though, was a little bit nervous at having the Headmaster of the Atlas Academy _and_ General of the forces at Atlas be the one questioning her right now. She hadn't even known he was here in Vale already. After all, last she heard, he was supposed to have been scheduled to arrive sometime in their next semester. The fact that someone so important would be so interested in what a student like her had to say was simply something she couldn't fathom.

"Well, aside from her appearance, which I've already told you, I can only repeat that she was strong," Pyrrha said before frowning in thought. "Overwhelmingly so, I should say. It took all of us working together to even try and land a hit on her. I can't even imagine fighting her with anything less."

General Ironwood walked slowly back to the desk where Pyrrha sat and read the file he had on the student in front of him, along with the rest of the students. "It says here you're one of the best students that Beacon has to offer, I'm not so surprised given your numerous awards and excellent track record." He glanced at her before he continued reading the files on the other students. "Your Headmaster apparently holds, not only you, but all of the others in high regard as well." Dropping the file, he asked, "So how is it that Beacon's best and brightest were unable to apprehend their intended target?"

Pyrrha shifted uneasily on her seat. "We had planned our attack earlier that day. Given the description Team RWBY had described of our opponent, we thought it best that we made preparations. We had even asked help from a more experienced student…"

* * *

 _Earlier that day…_

"What's up ladies and gents?"

Coco smiled as she greeted her fellow students. She had accidentally bumped into Ruby when she had been out to try out the café that her clothing store had recommended for her during one of her little shopping sprees. Actually, it was more like Ruby had almost run her over because of how fast the little red rocket was barreling down the street.

When Ruby had found out where she was going, she had offered to walk alongside Coco the rest of the way since they were both going to the same place anyway. She even said that the leader of Team CFVY could join up with her and the rest of her teammates at their usual table, and that she'd pay for her first meal there as an apology for almost crashing into her.

Too bad Weiss would be the one ending up footing the bill at the end.

"It looks like you guys are having fun planning something," Coco said as she pulled up a chair and relaxed. "Care to fill me in?" Her eyes shone with curiosity over her lowered sunglasses.

Weiss happily obliged. "We're planning to stop a robbery," she said proudly.

Coco stared at her. "Isn't that a job for the police?"

"W-well, normally, yes… but the thieves are from the White Fang!" argued Weiss.

"That still doesn't sound like something students like us should be dealing with," Coco took a menu from the table and started browsing through it. She was far more interested on the selection of appetizers than she was of Weiss' plan. "We're training to hunt down Grimm, not common criminals," she said lazily as she eyed a particularly appealing picture of a hors d'oeuvre.

"But these aren't just a bunch of ordinary thieves!" huffed Weiss. "Plus that blind woman's inhuman strength was anything but ordinary." That last part seems to have gotten Coco's attention back.

"Blind woman?" she asked with a tilt of her head. "You guys got beat by a woman who couldn't see?"

Blake was the one who answered. "She may have been wearing a blindfold, but I'm pretty sure she could see everything around her just fine. The way she moved… it was just uncanny."

"Yeah," agreed Yang. "And Weiss wasn't kidding about how strong that woman was. Her Kick was so heavy that it made a dent on Ruby's scythe."

"Oh?" Coco had now leaned forward, her curiosity rising at this new information.

"That's right!" said Ruby before leaning in and whispered to Coco, "…I think she may be a Huntress."

"Hmmm…"

Coco considered the matter seriously. The White Fang and common thieves are one thing, but having a possible rogue Huntress confronted by a bunch of 1st years is a different problem. She'd feel bad leaving them alone against that chance, not when she could help them.

After a minute of thought, Coco said, "Right, let me join up with you guys on this merry little hunt of yours."

"Alright!" said Weiss in good cheer.

Jaune, however, was not entirely happy with this new development. "A-are you sure?" he asked nervously. "I mean, wouldn't it be better to tell the professors about this?" He was really reaching out for his senior to see reason.

Coco waved off his concern casually. "The professors are busy enough as it is with the upcoming Grimm missions and Vytal Festival preparations. I doubt they'd interfere with something so simple as a Dust robbery."

"What about the rest of Team CFVY, will they not be joining us?" asked Pyrrha.

"Velvet is still working on building up her weapon, while Fox is helping her out on that. Meanwhile, Yatsuhashi has some weird meditation practice going on right now." Coco sighed. "Really, if I hadn't bumped into Ruby, I'd have spent today all alone right now."

It was also the reason why Coco had been out by herself today. Of course, she could have done individual training but that would have been a waste of a good weekend. Practice is all well and good, but relaxing is equally important. And there was nothing quite as relaxing as browsing over a new line of berets at her favorite store.

Coco smirked at the red-head. "What? You think we still can't take on this woman even with this many people?" She adjusted her glasses as she took in the reactions from both teams. "I think you're either severely overestimating your opponent or you're completely underestimating yourselves, rogue Huntress or not."

Team JNPR saw her point, but Team RWBY was a little bit more hesitant in accepting her statement. They were, after all, the only ones who had actually fought said woman before. And they had a better grasp of just how strong she was.

While they had been discussing things, Sakura came up beside them to take up Coco's orders. She had noticed the arrival of Ruby and a new customer and proceeded with providing the café's prompt service.

"Welcome to the café, dear customer," she greeted and made a polite bow at Coco. "Would you like to order now, or do you need more time? I can get you something to drink first, if you would like."

Coco closed the menu and handed it over to the maid. "No, thank you," she said. "I'll have the Brandade de Morue au Gratin, Chicken Dijon, and a Lemon-Ricotta Soufflés for dessert. As for the drink, I can settle for good ol' cup of coffee."

Sakura quickly jotted down the order before bidding her leave.

Team JNPR and RWBY was a little bit surprised at Coco's selection. It would seem she has a taste for the exquisite… and the expensive. Her orders were easily one of the most expensive parts of the menu.

Ruby looked a bit forlorn, as she counted the price.

"Don't looks so down, Ruby," said Coco as she patted her on the back. "You're not the one paying for my meal." She gave Weiss a knowing smile. "Isn't that right, princess?"

Weiss actually felt the stab at her credit card for once in her life. Something only a certain Jewelcraft user, cooking in the kitchen below them, would be able to understand with complete honesty. It was a good thing that her father hadn't cut her liens off yet, otherwise paying for this many people would have been impossible for her.

"Since I assume this _was_ your idea, you wouldn't hold back in treating me to a little something for my help, right?"

"O-of course…" answered back Weiss with a slight twitch to her smile.

Coco smiled amusedly at that. "Now let's get to the plan you've got while I wait for my food to arrive…"

* * *

 _Back to the present…_

Professor Ozpin sat back on his chair as he took a sip from his favored mug. He had just finished hearing Coco's side of the story about their plan on capturing the rogue Huntress. His face was placid as his student watched him stare at the mug in his hand.

They were in an identical room, right across the one where Pyrrha and General Ironwood were.

"I can't say I'm not very disappointed with how you handled this matter, Miss Adel," Ozpin finally said. "As the senior student there, I would have assumed you would have talked sense into your juniors." Coco looked down guiltily at that. "What you students did, was both foolish and dangerous. It wouldn't be completely farfetched that something far worse could have happened to any of you in that kind of situation."

"I apologize professor," Coco's answer was timid but sincere. "I had misjudged the situation and just went along with the plan without considering the possibility that we might fail."

Ozpin sighed.

He had known that more than a few of his students would have a penchant for causing trouble, but this is a bit more than he was expecting. The White Fang seems to be moving up the scale of their operations at Vale, and he was beginning to suspect that someone else may have had a hand in their movements. A student of his being a former member of the group was already something he had helped to cover up. And now, there was the appearance by another unknown party that has just added more to his already increasing problems.

"I suppose it is quite alright," Ozpin said. "You children are still young, it is something that is to be expected while we are still at a time of peace." He would try his best to at least keep the students as safe as possible from the dangers this world has, Grimm and otherwise. "Now, please continue on how your plan had failed."

Coco nodded in affirmation.

She told Ozpin on how they had planned to ambush the lone woman by flanking her on from both sides after she had dealt with the White Fang for them, something Coco had thought was bit much for a single opponent. The battles she saw at the port though, had completely changed her opinion quickly.

The plan had been to wear the woman down with their numbers by keeping her occupied from all directions so she wouldn't have a chance to escape. Four of them would fight her up close and personal, while the others would provide range support, in case they were pushed back. Coco's role was to provide additional firepower they would need and finish the battle, when everyone else would have had to reload their Dust rounds like the last time the woman had used to make her escape.

It was best decided that they would not give the woman a single moment of time to make a move of her own, based on the speed she was able to move at. Coco couldn't agree more with that then, when she saw for herself how quickly the woman disappeared from one thug to the next during her fight with the White Fang.

If they had given her even a single second of opening, they would have probably lost their only chance at catching mystery woman. Coco's gattling gun would also be better at penetrating the intense aura that the she had, since their normal rate of fire proved insufficient before.

"And you're saying, all of this was for one blind woman?"

Coco nodded as she remembered her own skepticism at the time.

She described just how the woman had enough strength to pull down to planes at the same time with barely any effort, how she had mowed down the criminal faunus with such speed and ferocity, and how she had completely ignored any and all Dust rounds from the thugs that attacked her without a single hint of her using Dust as well.

"…No Dust, you say?"

"Yeah," answered Coco with utmost seriousness at her Headmaster. "I never once saw her use Dust during the entire time I was there. It's possible that she might have been using a Semblance like Ruby's that increases her physical ability, but it would have been on a completely different scale."

Ozpin mused on that fact for a moment before addressing his student once more. "So I take it things didn't go according to plan, since not a single criminal was caught with you when the police arrived."

Coco shook her head. "Actually, everything went well as planned until the end," she said. "Although we didn't expect her to get stronger in the middle of that last stretch, we had still managed to pin her down long enough for me to shoot at her."

"Please tell me that you're Dust rounds weren't enough as well," laughed Ozpin lightly as he thought he remembered the particular weapon his student carried.

"No, she didn't stop my Dust rounds." Coco answered just as Ozpin thought. "Someone else did…"

"What…?"

The Headmaster couldn't entirely believe his student was telling the truth. There were very few things he could think of that would be able to stop such an onslaught. And some of those few, were important secrets that were held by only he and few others knew about.

"It doesn't end there," continued Coco. "When I felt the aura coming from that… female knight who had just tanked my rounds like they were nothing, I knew that she was just as strong, if not stronger than that blindfolded woman." Her body shook a little after she remembered the intense feeling she got from that time. "I ordered everyone to fire everything they had at her… but even then… there wasn't even a scratch on her."

"It can't be…" whispered Ozpin.

Coco turned away from her thoughts and saw that the Headmaster had a difficult expression on his face. "Do you know something about this, Professor?"

Quickly, Ozpin reigned the emotions that were leaking out on his face. "No, I am sure that whoever it was that you had encountered may have been using a Semblance or other equipment that may have rendered your Dust rounds useless somehow," he said as his explanation.

Professor Ozpin had Coco finish the rest of her story before he sent her away with a slight warning against doing anything so foolish again, at least without his consent at doing so. At the same time, Ruby and Pyrrha had already finished their own explanations as well.

The students met together at the hall of the police station, where they chatted about their recent bout and temporary detention.

"So how'd it go with you guys?" asked Ruby worriedly.

Coco and Pyrrha smiled somewhat at that.

"Looks like everyone got off lightly," answered Coco, greatly relieving Ruby's pent up fear from her talk with Professor Goodwitch.

"Oh, that's great!"

Ruby had feared for the worse in terms of punishment. She had been thinking of, being forced to do more homework, lose their weekend privilege, or maybe even… getting expelled. Her head was just full of those nasty outcomes, that if it weren't for those cookies, she might have not been able to talk with Professor Goodwitch at all.

"Ruby!"

Ruby looked over just in time to see Penny running over to her just before she jumped her and fell to the floor.

"Penny… why?" she mumbled weakly over the weight of her friend.

"Are you okay?" said Penny, ignoring the pain of her friend as she continued to hug the poor girl on the ground. "You didn't get into too much trouble did you? Did that officer give you the cookies Illya sent?"

"I think you should let her up first before she starts answering your questions, Penny," giggled Pyrrha from the side.

"And who do we have here?" smiled Coco.

The peppy young girl slowly got up from Ruby and introduced herself. "Hi, my name is Penny. It is a pleasure to meet you!"

Coco gave her an amused grin. "Pleasures all mine."

In the meantime, Ruby had finally reoriented herself from that surprise tackle. She had best try and stop Penny from doing that or at least learn to fall better, otherwise she'd end up with back pain too early in her life.

"What are you doing here, Penny?" she asked.

"I heard from Illya that you might be in trouble with the police, and she asked me to bring you the cookies her friend made to help cheer you up."

"Wow," said Ruby. "News sure does travel fast. But yeah, those cookies were really good."

"I'm glad to see you're alright," smiled Penny.

As the girls got to chatting about their predicament, the adults were having a deep conversation of their own in one of the rooms.

"I take it you two have heard of the same thing as I have from our recent conversations based on your worried looks," said Ozpin calmly as he sat his mug down on the table. "I'm sure Miss Nikos provided you with some interesting bit of information as I had from Miss Adel, am I correct, James?

General Ironwood had a stressed look in comparison to his friend. "So it's true then?" he said through gritted teeth. "It's possible that we may have found the people responsible who Qrow had talked about."

"It's also possible that you may be jumping to conclusions," said Glynda. While clearly a bit biased, Ruby had told her how none of them were seriously injured and how the rogue Huntress seemed to have warned them more than once that she did not wish to hurt any of them. "It did not appear that this one was quite as vicious as the ones Qrow reported."

"You've heard what they said, Glynda," answered Ironwood. "How their thief had not used Dust and how she shrugged off Dust rounds as if they were nothing more than a mere annoyance. Who else could that possibly be, if not the enemy who attacked us?"

His question was met with silence, as the professor was unable to find an appropriate answer.

Ironwood took it as confirmation of his argument. "I'll be calling on my forces to arrive here. They should be here soon to help protect the city and our charge."

Glynda looked at him in disbelief. "You can't be serious?" she asked. "Having the Atlesian army occupying Vale would spread unjust worry over the population!"

"I had already made plans for them to arrive beforehand for the start of the next semester. I would be merely taking things a step further than I had anticipated. You won't have to worry about it being an occupation since I will be having them stage mock drills and displaying the newest technologies from Atlas. I will just offer the excuse of them being necessary protection for the expensive equipment we would have on display and as added security for the Vytal Festival." He looked at Ozpin and asked, "I assume you won't have any problems with this?"

Ozpin sat silently with the fingers of his hands crossed together as he contemplated it.

"No," he finally answered.

"Ozpin!" Glynda was unable to believe that answer. "You can't be serious about this?!"

Ozpin sighed before turning towards Glynda and said, "While I would be hard pressed to say that I approve of such measures, the situation warrants caution. Whoever these people are, they have already been encountered by our students. If we fail to take this seriously now, then we may find ourselves at the end of our ropes. Our enemy has clearly something planned, if they are moving around this much then it would suffice to say that that something will happen soon." Ozpins face was stern as he said this, "And I will not endanger the lives of those we are to protect while we hesitate."

Glynda was not entirely satisfied with this arrangement, but would nonetheless, trust Ozpin's judgement for the time being. Even she understood that things have gone quite a lot more serious now and that they would need to act to prevent any disaster in the future.

"So you will be the one leading this hunt then, I suppose?" she asked the General with disapproval. "We don't even know how many of them there are in the city."

"We know definitely that there are at least two of them here and that either one or both have the necessary power that may have come from a maiden."

"You're forgetting the exploding arrows that the students mentioned." Ozpin said to remind them. "Recognize something familiar with that part of their story?"

The General thought for a moment before nodding, "From that field trip at Forever Fall Forest, it's probably the same kind that destroyed that device there."

"Yes." Ozpin took his mug and stared at it in thought. "The one where those statues were found…"

"And the place the Grimm had avoided," softly added Glynda.

"We have to be careful with our chase," said Ozpin. "At best, these two women are the only Huntress with high levels of power and their accomplice or accomplices are just normal henchmen, but at worst?" He paused as he let his words sink in. "We may have to assume that they have another of similar capability with them."

Grim thoughts were shared among the room at that idea. It wouldn't occur to them that their idea is still far from the worse and the truth about the people they would someday encounter.

* * *

"That is unreal…"

Cinder had no idea who said that but she couldn't really agree more with it as she stared at the video on the screen playing at their base. She and her minions watched unblinkingly at the video of the woman who had single-handedly taken apart the ambush they had laid out.

That in itself wasn't what caused most of their surprise, since they had only setup the ambush to figure out the identities of the other party that had been disrupting their operations lately. What got the most surprise was how the blind woman had handled her next opponents and the appearance of the female knight who had appeared to shield her downed comrade with her own body from a hail of Dust rounds that should have left her seriously wounded.

Instead, they saw the perfectly immaculate form of the knight, with nary a thread out of place from the attacks of the students. Her gallant figure stood proudly while her hands rested on the air in front of her waist, as if holding down on to something there.

"Are these the other maidens?" questioned Emerald.

"If so, I'd say we got really lucky with picking out the weakest one," said Mercury with a frown as he replayed the video of the blind woman pulling down two of their planes.

"They aren't any of the maidens," answered Cinder.

That answer received confused looks from everyone in the room with her, including that of Neo.

"How can you be so sure?" said Emerald.

Cinder merely said, "Oh, I'm sure." Her right eye glowed yellow with power. "You can trust me when I tell you that those women aren't any of the seasons. They're something else entirely."

"Then what are they then?" said Mercury in exasperation.

"Magic."

Both Mercury and Emerald laughed at what they assumed was their leader making a joke. But the placid look Cinder gave them, showed them that she was not kidding at all about her answer. They immediately went quiet as they waited for her to continue.

"The maidens hadn't always been powerful as they are now," explained Cinder. "As the fairy tale tells it, an old man was said to have given them their magic, once upon a time. Both of you have experienced that magic firsthand, remember?"

The two gulped as they thought about the time they had attacked one of the maidens. It wasn't an easy fight, even after they had setup a perfectly laid out ambush. It was something that could have easily had ended badly for them had they not prepared and gotten a little bit lucky with it.

"Now if the maidens were that powerful," continued Cinder. "How strong do you think the old man who gave them those powers would be in the first place?"

That certainly stretched their imaginations a bit. Although, their eyes strayed off back at the video that had been playing again. It didn't seem that too far-fetched of an idea, now that they had something to reference it with.

"Exactly," Cinder said as she saw where their eyes were at. "If it's magic, then it's possible that these two are an existence related to it."

"Then what does this mean for our plans?" asked Emerald.

Cinder glanced at the worried look of her ally. "It means that the plans would have to change a little."

"What about the maiden then?" said Mercury.

"Our current plans will continue as scheduled. They will only be… altered a bit."

Emerald gazed at the proud form of the knight on the video. "How can we even beat that thing?"

"We might not have to," answered Cinder and she played forwarded the video to a certain time after the barrage of Dust that hit the knight.

 _"My Master has ordered our retreat. Our objective has been met and there is no longer any need to stay here,"_ said the voice of the knight in the video.

"I wonder if the master is as strong as its servant?" smirked Cinder maliciously. "One of our goals now is to find more information on our new targets."

"But where would we start?" said Emerald. "There might be no one who knows anything about these guys."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Cinder said as she flipped a photo of someone onto the screen. "It looks like our little lost wolf in sheep's clothing might know a thing or two about them. Let's try our best to get him back to us then. Gather our informants, while I report the changes to our plans and other matters." She did not need to tell them who she would report those to.

Meanwhile, Neo's grip tightened on the handle of her umbrella as she looked at picture up on display.

As Cinder left the room, she vowed, "Our new enemies will soon suffer the same fate as the rest of the people of Remnant."

* * *

"How…?"

A cry of grief sounded into the air of the cold night over a rather large mansion. No other voice could be heard besides the first, and the sounds of a cackling of flames near it. The light of the moon gently basking the earth with its mysterious splendor as it slowly moves through the night sky.

"How did this happen...?"

Two fists pounded the clean cut grass, as a girl with twin-tailed hair sank to her knees on the cold earth. Her body shuddered and shook as she cried out in anguish. No words came out from those around her. For they knew not what to say to calm the emotional woman down. They could only stand to the side, and watch as things played out.

"How did the plane crash so close to landing?!" she screamed out.

The wreckage that laid out in the suitably large backyard used to be one of the planes that Roman and his crew had stolen just last night. It was now in pieces… burning and melted pieces of metal that scattered all over the once immaculate garden. But it wasn't the damage to the beautiful garden nor the usefulness of a potential vehicle that Rin had been grieving for.

No, it was the large supplies of Dust crystals that it had been carrying that received her solemn grief.

Thomas Ground, the raccoon-eared faunus, stood to the side, looking away and scratching his cheek uneasily. "I-It couldn't be helped…" he said in a whisper.

Rin momentarily looked up from her crying to give a menacing glare at the faunus. "I thought you said you knew how to fly one of these things?!"

"It wasn't my fault!" He held his hands up trying to block the eyes that he swore could melt him where he stood. "T-The engine probably had a faulty leak or something!"

"Uhm…" Euly tried to help. "It's really not his fault… technically."

Saber, who was on the side with the rest of the Servants, tilted her head in question at that. "Can you clarify what you mean by that?" she asked.

"Well…" Euly looked away for a moment before answering. "Thomas had always been good with equipment in general. But for some reason, every time he gets behind the wheel of a vehicle, it ends up crashing or sinking, and that's not because he's a bad driver or anything. It just happens that he usually gets a boat with a crack in its hull, a car that had its tire's almost worn down, or in this case, a plane that probably _did_ have something wrong with its engine. It's the reason why the White Fang got him as far as possible from the driver's seat during a job."

"Oh? I was wondering why he was shoved in the back so forcefully before," said Roman with mild amusement.

"So it really was your fault!" declared Rin as she grabbed the offending faunus by the neck, trying to strangle him.

"Like I said, it's not really his fault," continued Euly as Archer and Saber both pried the mad magus off their pale comrade. "He just sort of has really bad luck with driving things."

"That is quite surprising," said Rider. "It's almost like he has a negative rank in Riding ability."

"Easy, Rin," Shirou tried to calm his girlfriend down. "We still have one plane full of Dust crystals at least. It's still more than the amount you had wanted in the first place," he said as Rin twisted and struggled from his and Saber's grip to continue her assault.

That did seem to have calmed the magus down a little bit, even though she was still glaring daggers at the buffoon who had hid himself behind Rider for his safety. It was fortunate that they had more than enough Dust crystals loaded onto the other plane, which was now safely hidden away at the basement beneath their property by the others. Otherwise… who knows what Rin would have done to Thomas had they nothing to placate her with.

After Shirou noticed that Rin had settled down somewhat he offered that all of them should return to the house for now to further discuss the events of that night. Naturally, cleanup duty would be done solely by Thomas, which he gladly accepted since it meant he'd be out of reach of his still rather pissed off boss.

Inside the house, Sakura had already had some tea and snacks prepared for everyone. She had been busy helping out Illya earlier with making a plate of cookies for her friend, so it didn't take her that long to finish preparing them.

The living room where they were to hold their meeting was reminiscent of the old European style homes, much like the Tohsaka residence had, albeit a bit larger. It was there where Rin had sat in a single grandiose chair while she drank her tea that Shirou had given her.

The three Servants and Illya -who sat on her Oniichan's lap- were seated on a similarly styled couch, right next to Rin. Whilst, Sakura sat opposite of her sister's. The rest of the group had been made to sort through the load that they had just acquired.

"Really…" mumbled Rin as her blood pressure had just started going down after drinking her tea. "If we hadn't put a bounded field around the property, people would have heard that crash."

"I think it's better if we discussed something else besides that, Neechan," said Sakura.

"Fine," Rin sighed before turning a serious look over at the Servants. "Looks like things hadn't gone completely as we had planned. If the hunters and authorities haven't been looking for us before, they most certainly will be now."

"My deepest apologies," bowed Rider. "I failed to perform adequately with my duties."

Sakura frowned at this. "You did nothing wrong, Rider," she said. "We didn't take Illya's friends seriously enough. It was wrong of us to assume that they had only been there the first time by chance."

"And I guess I should have probably informed you of some the Semblances that they had," added Illya guiltily. She had been a bit too excited at having friends for the first time that she had forgotten to go over what she knew about Huntsmen and Huntresses with everyone else.

Rin shared her agreement with her sister. "Had we known that they were waiting for us, I may have cancelled the operation all together."

That statement certainly came as a surprise to everyone in the room. They had seen just how much Rin had been anticipating the arrival of the Dust crystals before the operation. It was suffice to say that she had almost been in a semi-drunken dream state whilst she waiting for the time till the White Fang struck. Having her cancel it would not have been far in comparing it to cutting off her hair.

Unlike everyone else in the room, Shirou sensed her unease. "What's bothering you, Rin?" he asked gently, his eyes showing her his concern. "Whatever it is, you know you can tell us, right?"

Rin sighed.

"It's not really anything concrete," she said. "But something is still bothering me about this world. Those Grimm are one thing, but magecraft all together in this world is still something I can't make sense out of." She bit her nail as she continued to talk. "The people here are a lot more naturally durable than the people of our world. They can also use Aura and Semblance which seems to be their innate magic that's taken form. I would guess it's how the people here have adapted to survive in this world filled with creatures that could kill them so easily. Then you also have Dust, which is kind of like prana in material form that they also use to combat the Grimm and power their devices." So far everyone nodded their heads, having understood. "The thing is… I've read some their history and there are more than few instances where I suspect magic had once been common knowledge."

Everyone knew and had a general idea of the implications of that and it would be quite serious indeed. If magic had once been as Rin has said, then the important question was why it was no longer so and if there's still anyone around who can use it.

"Are you sure about that, Rin?" asked Saber.

Her Master gave her an affirmative nod. "Everyone here should know that myth and legends have some underlying truth to them, the same can be said for fairy tales," she answered. "Magi in our world always find ways to conceal the truth from the rest of the people. But if you read between the lines of some of our history books, you can just make out the events where magic had been involved in."

"So there might be people here who can use magecraft," said Illya.

"And if they're anything like the magi of our world then…" mumbled Shirou.

Rin nodded grimly and said, "They will come looking for us. And when they do, I'm not so sure they won't be as _friendly_ as our own magi."

Silence permeated the room as everyone digested what had been just said. Even if they had Servants, being hunted continuously by something like the Enforcers, magi, and other beings of the supernatural would greatly inconvenience their new lives here. It would be the same as living the life of a sealing designee, where one would never know true peace of mind when you had to constantly worry in hiding and always on the run.

"You said you're not entirely sure about it yet though, Rin?" Shirou finally said.

"What I can find through the regular circulation of books is somewhat limited, even with Mr. Tuckson's connections through the trade," sighed Rin. "He said most books you won't find anywhere else are only available at the libraries of Huntsmen Academies."

"That means you'll need access to their facilities for that?" said Sakura

"Yes," sighed Rin once more. "Unfortunately, only students and staff are allowed access to their libraries."

"What if we—"

Rin cut off what Illya had been about to suggest. "Becoming students would be out of the question for us," she said. "While we do need to know more about this, we should really keep our focus on our current project's task. While it's our fault that the Grimm had been attracted to this city, the reports have been pointing to them growing stronger even before we had arrived here. It would be best if we finished sooner rather than later. Going back to school would slow our pace, and would keep us separated for a longer periods of time than I would deem necessary. Not to mention, I'd like it if we held on to our cover for as long as possible. Frequent combat, especially in a school designed for that, would only invite suspicious inquiries to our background." Rin smiled at an amused thought. "Can you imagine what would happen if we sent any Servants there?"

Illya's face cramped as she did.

There are just too many ways that things could go wrong with that.

"I guess there's nothing we could do about that then," said Shirou.

"Tsk!" Rin looked frustrated at the lack of an option. "I really would have liked to get my hands on the information there. We'd be able to know more about this world and those that inhabit it."

Unlike everyone else, only Sakura had a smile on her face. "I might have a way in for you, Neechan," said the girl, which got her curious stares from everyone. "You see, students aren't the only ones who frequently visit our shop…"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter is a bit longer than the previous ones but i'm sure a lot of people will be disappointed with the lack of focus with the Fate group. The next chapter should fix that... probably.**

 **Also changed Superhuman Strength to Monstrous Strength as alienvx0 suggested since the translation does sound better as that.**

 **As always, please read and review.** **It will help me if you can point out some mistakes in spelling, grammar and inconsistencies as well. Please do try to make constructive criticism.**

 **You can check my profile for updates.**


	17. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

 ***Fresh post. May have more than few mistakes here and there. Will update with corrections in several days or so.**

* * *

Radix Book Café, a lovely café with an interesting theme centered on its wide selection of books that customers can read while they relax, and the costumed staff that dress up as servants who do their utmost in providing them with great care. Most people are attracted there by that unique theme, but what keeps them coming back there are the wide variety of delicious foods on their menu.

It is not surprising that the café receives a large number of customers from the city that visits on a daily basis. They attract all sorts of people from humans to faunus, since the staff is comprised of almost an even number from both races. Unlike some establishments, there is no animosity between the human and faunus staff, which makes it all the more enticing for faunus customers to visit. The customers also range from housewives and office workers to students and teachers.

On one particular day, some of the staff from Beacon have decided to take some time to discuss the misbehavior of some of their students, the ongoing preparations for the Vytal Festival and other various school related problems. It was suggested by one of the more portly professors that the discussion be best served in a more filling environment, to which, everyone had wholeheartedly agreed with.

"Since you were the one who had suggested we discuss matters here, Professor Port," sighed Glynda as she watched the man devour his steak. "I would hope that you would not be too focused on your meal this time."

Professor Port gulped down a piece of his meal and said, "Not to worry, Glynda. I shall be as focused on our talks like a Boarbatusk charging at its prey."

"Uh-huh." Professor Goodwitch just frowned and rolled her eyes at that. She wasn't really expecting much from him.

"So what is it that you think we should do with the children?" said Ozpin, who had wanted to get things back to their original discussion.

Professor Goodwitch had disagreed with letting the students off without any repercussions whatsoever, so now they had come to decide on an agreeable form of punishment. It should be something that would benefit the students, and not just to make them feel bad for what they did. That was what the other professors had agreed on as well.

"We should teach them how to handle responsibilities," said Glynda.

"And how is it do you suggest we do that?" asked Professor Oobleck, who had been drinking coffee from his mug. "With the upcoming events, we ourselves have plenty of responsibilities of our own right now."

"Not to mention that students from the various other Kingdoms have begun to arrive," Professor Port added as he dabbed the sauce from his mustache. "We still have to get them acclimated to our school and the city of Vale before the start of the school missions on the next semester."

The various Huntsmen Academies across the Kingdoms have sent their students to compete at the Vytal Festival. Many of them are still getting used to the difference between cultures and environment of their host Kingdom. Some have even gotten to a bit of trouble with the law already.

"Hmmm…" mused Ozpin. "I think I have the perfect idea on what their punishment should be now." A delighted smile was on his face as he thought of his brilliant plan for his students.

The Headmaster briefly outlined his idea to the rest of the professors. They had all nodded approvingly of it. Everyone was quite impressed with it since it would handle more than one problem that they had been tackling. Only time will tell though, if the students themselves would see it from a positive point as they had.

"Now what should we do about the procurement of additional staff?" asked Glynda. "With the arrival of the students from—"

The professor paused in her speech as a cart from their maid arrived with the desserts.

"Excuse me," said their twin-tailed haired maid. "I have your desserts ready for you."

Professor Port was quick on the draw. "Why thank you, my dear," he said so gallantly as he picked up his sizable dessert. "I must say, I am always amazed by the impeccable timing your staff has here."

"We do try to do the best we can." Rin gave the portly professor a smile. "Have you enjoyed some of the books we have an on the shelves right now? We do pride ourselves on providing adequate reading material for everyone but even I find myself lacking some books to read sometimes," she gave a loud sigh and looked slightly dejected at the end.

"Ah, that is truly unfortunate," agreed the professor. "Our libraries at Beacon Academy though would probably have most books that would be hard to find anywhere else."

"Is that so?" questioned Rin innocently. "I would love to browse through them, if I could."

"It is such a shame that we don't give access to such knowledge freely to the public," nodded Port once again in agreement.

"I wouldn't really mind working there, if it meant I would be able to read some of the books from time to time." Rin placed the rest of the desserts on each of the other occupants place on the table. "But I suppose, things are just not meant to be," she said wistfully.

"Actually…" Ozpin seemed very interested in what had just been said. "We do have an opening for a part-time assistant librarian at the academy for the start of the next semester. We were about to discuss that matter just now."

"Oh my, is that true?" said Rin in a pleasantly surprised voice. "I would love to have the opportunity to work there."

"Now that you mention it," said Port as he scratched his chin in thought. "I believe I mentioned that once before to another maid on one of my visits here."

"The work ethic of the people here are quite reliable," added Oobleck.

Professor Glynda was more questioning of the matter. "But what about your job here? Would they not be hard-pressed if you were to leave?"

"We are actually a bit overstaffed now," admitted Rin. "Our work schedule has been freed up immensely recently, so most of our staff are now available to work. We even have a new maid who is about to start sometime soon." Her smile glowed as she thought of the newly conscripted maid. "I'm sure she'll be quite popular with the customers."

"I see," said Glynda.

She was a bit more hesitant on hiring someone so quickly like this. Being a part of the staff at Beacon has great responsibilities, not to mention strict rigorous protocols to follow. There should be plenty of more qualified and well-established applicants available for them to choose from.

"I hope it's okay if I brought along my own tea," said Rin.

Glynda's brow rose up as she realized something. "Do you know how to make the tea here?"

Rin smiled ever so sweetly at the woman. "Of course," she said with a nod. "I'm the one who actually taught most of the people here how to brew almost all of the tea we serve. I am quite strict in regards to how tea is brewed so I usually make it myself. I believe only Shirou can beat me in some areas of making some of the other kinds of tea."

There was a pause before Professor Goodwitch suddenly said, "You're hired."

"Ahem," Ozpin coughed politely on his fist. "I believe I have the final say in matters like this." The Headmaster smiled at Rin. "We would like to welcome you in joining us at Beacon next semester," he said.

Rin curtsied towards the professors. "The pleasure is all mine."

"It's good that we've found at least one position filled out," laughed Professor Port. "I don't suppose you know any handymen around who're looking for a part-time work as well?" he jokingly asked Rin. "I believe Professor Goodwitch has been stretched thin a little lately due to the increasing amount of damage that students have been causing."

"Well…"

Glynda was quick to object. "I believe one exception has been more than enough," she said in a final tone.

"That's too bad," said Rin. "I'm sure Shirou would have found it nice to do work outside of cooking all the time."

"Shirou…?" Glynda clearly remembered the name. "The one you mentioned earlier?" she had still asked. "The one who could also make exceptional tea?"

"He is also one of the cooks here?" said Port eagerly.

Rin just nodded blankly in response to those questions directed at her. "He's actually the one who made all of your desserts right now."

The professors all stared down at their desserts for a moment before unanimously saying, "He's hired." They apparently didn't care that they were supposed to be hiring the man as a handyman rather than their own personal chef at school.

After her talk with the professors, Rin left them to finish their meals. She had a deviously evil smirk on her face as she walked back towards the kitchen. Sinister thoughts about the future was all that occupied her mind, whilst the professors were totally unaware of the snake that had just coiled itself around them.

She would thank her sister for such a golden opportunity that she gave her.

* * *

Illyasviel von Einzbern was in a good mood today. She was quite delighted to be able to spend her time out today, even though it's not with her newfound friends. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. A perfect day for the beginning of her planned day out since a while back. It was something she had looked forward to, ever since she found a new lease on life, one she was determined to live out fully and without remorse.

"Hurry up, Papa!" she said with the most delighted smile as she pulled a man close to her. "Me and Mama will leave you behind if you don't keep up."

Together with the happy little girl was a man and a woman who were both slightly red on their cheeks as she was in the middle of them and held on to them both lovingly, a picture perfect look of a young couple out with their beautiful daughter.

"Is it really necessary for you to call us that, Illya?" asked a completely red-faced Saber.

"We don't even look that old enough yet," said an equally red Shirou. "At least Saber doesn't."

Unlike the unwilling two with her, Illya was in really high spirits for the moment. "That wouldn't fair," she smiled. "Both of you had promised me that I could do whatever I wanted today, as long as it was reasonable anyway, since I had been working so hard lately."

It was true.

Shirou had wanted to bond more with his sister, now that she wasn't trying to kill him. They had only spent a few days together to get to know each other during the Holy Grail War, and some of those days included her getting Berserker to flatten him into paste. Heck, the killing-machine would have pretty much killed him, had it not been for Avalon and Saber's presence. Their current outing together was very much preferable than those other times.

Illya had also dragged Saber into the promise, since they've gotten quite a lot closer now. It was expected as much after the Servant had been telling Illya bedtime stories every night about Irisviel and a few very short ones of Kiritsugu. Saber had even told her of the time she and Irisviel had spent together on their first time to Japan and how much fun her mother had during their little side trip while wishing most of that time how she had wanted Illya and her father would have been there together with her. It was after she had heard this that Illya had tried hard to secure her Oniichan and Saber into going on a similar trip with her around Vale.

"I'm not so sure calling us Papa and Mama feels reasonable…" grumbled Shirou silently. He could see the smiling faces of the passerby around them, obviously more than enamored by what they thought was a sweet looking family on their trip.

Illya was very much adamant that she had wanted the trip to feel like as she would have with her parents. She had stated that Saber and Shirou would make adequate substitutes since both of them had spent a lot of time together with each one before. The two didn't have the nerve to deny the small girl her wishes since they knew far too well of her history about her parents. They had thought that a small thing like that would be easy enough.

That was until Illya had actually started calling both of them like that in public.

Calling them individually would have been fine, but being called that alongside the other meant they would be seen together as husband and wife. That was what really caused the embarrassment from the two. They couldn't look at each other directly as they walked together with Illya because of that.

"You two should stand closer together with me," said Illya. She pulled them both together towards her, hugging their arms with hers, and lessening the gap that Shirou and Saber had made from their embarrassment of being seen as a couple. "This is much better," she said in a very pleased manner.

Having to stay so close to one another, Shirou and Saber busied themselves by staring at everything else besides each other while their faces went even redder at the sudden close proximity.

The young couple and their child went from store to store around the commercial district of Vale. Staying a bit longer at some of the places that Illya had been interested in, like the stuffed toy shop. It momentarily brought Shirou out of his embarrassment as he saw the joyous look on his sibling as she held and fluffed a snow white teddy bear.

"You know, I used to have a lot of these kinds of things that Papa would bring me from outside the castle," said Illya in voice filled with nostalgia. "I was always so happy whenever he came back from his short trips before because he would always get me a souvenir like this one." She held the teddy bear far from her for Shirou to see. "That was until he never came back and grandfather had taken all of it to burn them."

Shirou noticed that Illya had begun to tear up at the terrible memory.

"Then how about Papa start you back on your collection with this one?" he said and grabbed Illya and the bear both to carry them towards the shop clerk. "I'll take the one my daughter's holding," he said with a grin at the clerk.

"Eh? Shirou?" Illya was surprised.

"Hey, you're supposed to call me Papa, remember?" smiled Shirou.

The clerk rang up the teddy bear and handed it back to Illya. She stared at the bear then back at Shirou and returned his smile. "Yeah, thanks for the present, Papa!"

Saber looked at that scene in front of her with pride and joy. Irisviel's daughter was finally able to smile with such wonder, something her mother would have wanted with all her heart. She had been angered and frustrated when she had learned from Illyasviel what kind of life she led under the Einzbern's care when her mother had died and her father was kept from seeing her. She had cursed Kiritsugu for pursuing his ideals, but couldn't help but feel that she was also at fault.

She knows nothing good would have changed since the Grail had been corrupted anyway. It still doesn't help that she felt like she had failed, not just Irisviel, but Illya as well. The two looked and acted so much like one another. Truly like mother and daughter.

"Mama!" Illya ran up to Saber and showed off her new bear. "Look what Papa gave me!"

Saber knelt down on one knee and inspected the toy with a smile on her face. "Yes, it's very lovely," she said as she stroked its fur.

"You should try hugging it, like this," Illya said and sandwiched the bear between her and Saber in a hug.

Saber hadn't expected the action, but nevertheless, smiled at the intimacy. "It does feel much better like this," she said. "Maybe next time we can get you a lion one."

"Yeah!"

"My, what a lovely daughter you two have," said the shop clerk. "It even looks like both of you are just newlyweds too." Shirou and Saber blushed a bit at that but didn't bother correcting the woman.

"Mama, Papa, let's go," Illya said while pulling on them. "I want to check out the other sights."

Shirou and Saber had thought it wasn't really such a bad experience. They had fun in their own right and got to be a little bit closer to each other. It's not like they had very many people here that knew them, so that lessened their embarrassment as well. Since everyone else was currently working at the café, there would be no one to tease them about their outing too much when they got home.

As the young family went out of the stuffed toy store to see more of Vale, someone among the crowd of passerby had watched them closely. The individual gazed at them until they were out of sight.

* * *

"Did you guys get the memo from Professor Goodwitch?" Yang asked Team JNPR who had just arrived at the café.

"Yeah," said Jaune as he and his teammates pulled up a chair to sit in. "To be honest, I was expecting something much worse really."

"I'm really excited!" said Ruby. "This is going to be so much fun! I can't believe they gave us such a cool assignment!" She was a lot more upbeat and cheery than anyone else about it.

Both teams had received news of their mandatory work from Professor Goodwitch the day before. It was only today that they had found out the final assignments that would be their responsibility. They had decided to meet up at their usual hang out to talk about it further.

"And having to spend our entire break serving as glorified tour guides is fun how?" spoke Weiss sarcastically as she had just arrived. "This wasn't how I imagined myself spending my break."

Blake looked up curiously from her book at the Schnee heiress. "It's not like you to be the one late for our meeting. That's usually something Ruby does," she said while looking at her team leader, who only gave her an awkward laugh.

"I just got a little sidetracked on the way here," said Weiss. "So who did you guys get?" She asked Team JNPR because she didn't want to bother beating around the bush.

"We got Team NDGO from Shade Academy and Team ABRN from Haven Academy," answered Nora as she remembered the list given to them.

"What about you guys?" asked Ren. "Who did you get?"

"Well," said Yang as she tried to remember. "We got Team SSSN from Haven Academy and—"

"We got Penny!" burst out Ruby in excitement. "I can't believe I get to show her around school and Vale. We can spend much more time together and all on the school's orders!" Stars glittered in her eyes as she said so, her delusions blocking out reality. "I already made plans for this! I named it 'Best. Break. Ever.' Oh, and I borrowed your binder for it too Weiss," she said towards her scowling teammate.

"You're forgetting the rest of the people from Atlas Academy, Ruby," reminded Blake. "There's still Penny's teammate Ciel, and Flint and Neon from Team FNKI."

"Huh?" wondered Jaune. "Where's the rest of their teammates?"

"They haven't arrived yet but the professors still gave us eight people to work with so they said it should be fine," answered Yang. "I really hope we get along well." She grinned as she thought of the foreign students.

"At least we might be able to find out more about them before we fight them in the tournament," said Weiss with a grin of her own but was a lot less benign than that of Yang's.

"Was Coco's team given the same work as us?" said Pyrrha.

Blake put down her book and answered, "Yeah, but they have less people to work with since their entire team wasn't at fault." A smile appeared on her face. "I heard Team CRDL had to do the same as well because of their recent behavior."

"I feel sorry for the guys stuck with them," said Yang.

"At least I know the Atlas students should be well behaved," said Weiss. "I don't know much about Team SSSN though. I heard they already got into trouble when they first got here."

Team SSSN had indeed had a bit of a problem with law enforcement during their arrival. The leader of the team had stowed away on a ship and had been caught stealing produce from a store. It was only a minor inconvenience because the rest of the team did say that they had already paid for their leader's passage but he just forgot his ticket after he was already on board. They had also reimbursed the store owners for any and all things that had been swiped.

While Team SSSN's leader did seem to have a penchant for monkeying around, it doesn't mean all of them are a bunch of troublemakers. Team RWBY will find out later on that Team SSSN may be the least worrisome of the students they have to show around.

* * *

Roman Torchwick bit down on the tip of his pen as he counted the crates of Dust crystals underneath the mansion of his young boss. He had spent the better part of his day organizing the quality and types of Dust crystals from the _reappropriated_ goods that they had liberated from the White Fang.

It was a tedious job that didn't fit that well with someone of his _illustrious_ background, but everyone else had their own tasks to do, and he wasn't really allowed to slack off due to his contract. Surprisingly, he was actually very good at that type of work when he didn't laze around.

"Hey, Roman!" called a voice from upstairs.

"Down here!" he shouted back.

A muscled man with sideburns came down the stairs. He carried a box filled with jars of red sap. Once he got to the basement, he laid down the box in a corner.

"Junior has been asking for the next shipment of red sap," said Tukson. "He says there's been more demand lately and he's going to need a few more extra than the usual amount."

"I'll take it up with the boss when she gets back," answered Roman. "What about those contracts with the jelly makers? Are we set on those for next month or so?"

Tukson took out a note he had in his pocket and read it. "Looks like Junior says they've given him a lot of legal jargon to go through. Says he's not really sure if he could deal with it right. He might need some help with that."

Roman frowned at that. "Can you take a look at it with him?"

"'fraid not," Tukson shook his head. "The little lady has me scheduled out of Vale during that time, I believe."

"I guess I might have to deal with it myself when the time comes," sighed Roman. "It's a good thing I also dealt in fraud, otherwise we'd have no one to deal with all this legal stuff."

Tukson laughed.

"What's so funny?" said Roman with an eyebrow raised.

"Nothing," said Tukson through his dying laughter. "It's just funny seeing a master criminal like you be so good at all these management stuff."

Roman just grunted at him. "Being a career criminal isn't easy as people make it out to be. There's actually a lot of work involved in it besides the violent parts of it," he answered seriously.

"I think this jobs a lot better than any of our old careers," Tukson said as he started heading out. "Just take care not to get swallowed up by our former employers," warned the faunus at Roman. "You know what they'd do to traitors like us if we're caught."

"Yeah, yeah," waved Roman in response. "I'll worry about that when it happens."

There was no telling what would happen in the future but Roman wasn't really the type get caught up on what may or may not happen with things so far off. He'd just deal with it when that time came. And he's hoping that when it does, he'll have something with a really big boom to back him up.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I've gotten more of the serious parts of the story fleshed out with the Fate cast. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of ideas with some of the more mundane parts of life in Vale for them. If you have any suggestions in regards to that, you can post it in a review or message me. I have some more serious things planned out for that semester break, but most of it only involves Illya. So break out your ideas and suggestions for the rest of the Fate characters so I can either do that or make an idea of my own based off of those.**

 **You'll see more of Shirou and Rin be an active part of the story at the start of the RWBY's next semester, which is season 2 of the show.**

 **I'm also piggybacking a poll on this chapter for people's interest in a few potential crossovers I plan on taking when this story gets too close to the show. You can vote on which ones you guys are interested in the most. You can check my profile for the poll and the description for the crossovers. There's probably no time limit for that poll. I didn't include the ones that I would be unable to write because the source material is not done or there is not enough of it yet.**

 **As always, please read and review.** **It will help me if you can point out some mistakes in spelling, grammar and inconsistencies as well. Please do try to make constructive criticism.**

 **You can check my profile for updates.**

 **P.S.**

 **I'd like to remind people to try and be civil when arguing your points to one another and be respectful. Please don't start using the review section to insinuate others are not smart enough to see your point of view. Make valid arguments and try not to get offended about other's opinions. Also, maybe try to message each other rather than post it on the reviews like writing on a wall.**


	18. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

 ***Fresh post. May have more than few mistakes here and there. Will update with corrections in several days or so.**

* * *

"Then I'll be heading out then!" Eugene Moran had bid goodbye to his boss.

Rin looked up from her desk of her home office to look at the squirrel faunus. "Ah, yeah. Take care," she said before returning back to the paperwork she had been diligently working on.

Today was Eugene's day off that he had requested a week prior. He was very much looking forward to it and was about to exit the mansion when he stopped after he saw a friend of his was leaning on the doorway out.

"Hey, Rud!" he smiled at his long-time friend. "Came to see me out?"

The wolf faunus uncrossed his arms and approached Eugene. "Just wanted to be sure to tell you to keep out of trouble before my shift starts," he answered gruffly. "I won't be there to save your ass if something does, so keep that in mind."

Eugene was glad for the concern, even if it was delivered a little roughly. Rud had always been like that, but he really was always worrying about him and the others. It was too bad that Rud couldn't go with him.

"Thanks," he answered. "Don't worry. I'll be back soon enough."

"You don't have to rush, idiot," Rud frowned in dissatisfaction. "Take your time and enjoy it. We'll still be here waiting for you."

"Yeah," said Eugene as he went past Rud. "You don't have to worry about that."

Before the squirrel faunus got too far, his friend shouted, "And don't forget to say 'hi' to your mom from us!"

Eugene answered with a nod and a smile before waving back goodbye to his friend.

Today was the day that he would be off to visit his mother. He had brought a few snacks and desserts that both Sakura and Shirou had made for him and his parent. It was good that mother and child were quite similar in many ways, having a fondness for sweets was just one of them. However, some of these similarities has led to more than a few _misunderstandings._

It didn't take Eugene long to arrive at his mother's current residence after taking a taxi from the mansion.

He came up to the reception desk of the building he had arrived at. "Good morning," he said to the receptionist. "I'm here to see my mother."

The receptionist smiled as she recognized the faunus. "Of course, Eugene. She's waiting for you in her room."

After thanking the receptionist, Eugene made his way to the hospital room where his mother was in. It wouldn't take him long to get there because this place has long been part of his memories of his mother. After all, this hospital has been Mrs. Moran's home for the better part of a third of Eugene's life.

She hadn't been in the hospital the entire time during those years, but she has spent most of it, even then, at the hospital than at her own home. The staff had been nice enough to them for all those years and had treated them kindly enough. It was just unfortunate that her stay had been prolonged due to the lack of funds for the actual treatment of her ailment. The cost was simply much too high for it, but at least the hospital had given them time by letting her stay there at a much reduced price that they could afford.

However, even though the payments were less, the continued stay at the hospital had drained their finances, and only made it impossible for Eugene to save enough money to get his mother's sickness cured permanently. There were few jobs that he could do that would be able to pay for all those expenses. And of those that did, there were none willing to hire a faunus, at least, not for a fair wage.

It had only been recently that his mother had finally started receiving treatment, and was now on her way to a full recovery. He was truly grateful for that.

"Mom, are you awake?" he called behind the door to her room. "I came to visit."

"Eugene?" called the voice from the room.

He opened the door and saw his mother sitting across the room on one of the chairs with an open book on her lap. "Hey, Mom!"

The woman was dressed modestly and looked to be in her late 20's. That was however not the case, considering her son was 27 yrs. old. It was because her baby-face made her look quite a bit younger than her actual age, something her son had also inherited from her. This made for uncomfortable situations where they had been mistaken together as siblings for those who did not know them.

Mrs. Moran got up her seat slowly before she dashed over and threw herself at her child in a hug. "Oh, Eugene, it really is you!" she loudly said with joy. "You haven't visited me in such a long time, I had thought something happened to you."

"You worry too much, Mom," Eugene said with a smile on his face. "I told you I had to take a… hard job, so I wouldn't be able to talk to you for a while." He didn't bother telling her that he had joined the White Fang, which was one of the reasons why he had not wanted to contact her back then.

Mrs. Moran gave her son an unhappy pout but was quickly gone when she saw the snacks he had brought. "Are those for me?" she asked in a hopeful voice, to which, her son gave an affirmative nod. "Thank you, Eugene. You don't know how happy I am to eat something else here," she said delightedly.

"The people where I work at, made it for you and me," said Eugene.

"This is delicious!" Mrs. Moran moaned after taking a bite off a brownie. She devoured the little morsels unlike that of a woman who has spent so much time in a hospital. "Those people are amazing! The chocolate just melts wonderfully in my mouth!"

"Wait a minute, Mom! Those aren't all yours!" said Eugene as he saw the rapidly decreasing snacks from his pack. "Some of those are mine!"

Mrs. Moran held the pack from her son's reach as she continued to empty its contents. "Your frail mother needs all the nutrition she can get," she answered as she continued to magnificently evade her son's attempts at getting the pack from her. "You don't want me to get sick from malnourishment, do you?" She smiled playfully at her boy.

"I'm more worried you'll get sick from overeating right now," answered Eugene as he made another grab at the pack unsuccessfully. He was glad his mother was healthy enough to move around so much, but that didn't mean he would let her eat his share. "At least let me have a taste of one of the donuts," he said tearfully.

After a short while, Mrs. Moran finally relented and let her son have some of the snacks from the pack. She had eaten quite a lot of it after all and she could see that her son was almost about to cry. She had always did liked teasing her son so much, but she always knew when to stop when it got too much. Although, she did still feel somewhat regretful at not being to eat all of the food.

"It's nice to see you're doing so well now, Mom," said Eugene with a pout, as he nibbled on one of the snacks from his arms that he vigilantly guarded from his mother.

"Now, now," Mrs. Moran said as she sat down right next to her son on the hospital bed. "You don't have to be like that. I promise I won't steal your food for now." Eugene was still unhappy about the last bit of that sentence, but was a little mollified by the promise. "So tell me what you've been up to."

Eugene thought about what to say to her. "I got a new job now and it's a much nicer place than where I worked at before," he said with a smile. "Rud and the others -They said 'hi', by the way- are working there with me too. There's a lot of hard work but we do get paid plenty for it and the benefits are really great. The health insurance we get even covers your bills for the hospital and we even have a full coverage dental plan. You wouldn't belie—"

He stopped when he saw his mother's eyes staring intently at him.

"Is there something on my face?" he asked.

Mrs. Moran nodded to herself after a few seconds. "It doesn't look like you're lying to me this time…"

Eugene was bewildered.

The last time he had visited her, he had told her that he was about to take a new job that would help pay for her treatment. He told her not to worry, that it would be easy, and that everything about it would be alright. He said all of this with a smile on his face so as not to worry his bedridden mother who he knew would be against him joining the White Fang.

"Don't look so surprised," said his mother. "I'm your mom, remember?" She squeezed her son's hand. "I may have been sick at the time, but I knew you weren't telling me the truth back then."

"I-I… I'm sorry," said Eugene with his face looking down. "I promised you I wouldn't do anything bad but I—"

"Shush," his mother cut in and embraced him. "It's okay, I'm not angry. I understand how difficult it must have been for you," she said as tears began to build in her eyes. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to do anything for you. Forgive me for failing you as a mother."

Eugene hugged his mother back. "It's not your fault, Mom," he said, trying to reassure her. "None of it was any of your fault. I did what I had to, but I swear that it's all better now." He held her at arm's length to dry the tears from her eyes. "I'm doing a good job at my new workplace now. And to thanks to that, you'll be able to leave this place soon."

Mrs. Moran sniffled back her tears and embraced her child once more. They enjoyed their family moment together for a time.

*munch* *munch*

It wasn't until Eugene heard the strange sounds coming from his mother, did he held her back once more. "Mom! You said you weren't going to eat my snacks anymore!"

"I'm sorry," his mother said with her eyes still a little wet as she finished a glazed donut she had swiped from him. "I got a little hungry after our little moment there." She gave a wide smile at him. "You can call us even now for lying."

Eugene sighed.

"Now tell me more about this new place you work at," said Mrs. Moran unabashedly. "I'm surprised Rud's able to work there with you, considering how he is. And if they make this kind of food there, then I'd love to go visit you and your friend's there once I'm out of the hospital."

Eugene was unsure of how that visit would go with his boss, since he wasn't really allowed to say the complete nature of his _employment_. He supposed it wouldn't really be a problem for them if his mother did go out to visit him at work, and Rud, Euly, and Thomas would be able to see her healthy for once.

He really just hoped nothing goes wrong with that.

* * *

Radix Book Café, it was here that a girl was about to start her new duties as a maid of this place.

"G-good morning," she said, a little flustered with her smile twitching. "W-welcome to Radix Book Café. How may I be of service?"

The table she had been assigned to was fairly composed of the usual regulars, so there wasn't any problems with them relaying their orders in time. She was able to jot down all the orders on her note before she made her way towards the kitchen, with only the occasional curious stares from some customers bothering her.

"Looks like you did just fine," said Shirou as he was busily stirring some pasta. "Don't be so nervous, Arturia," he said as he took down the order she handed over to him. "The people here aren't all that different from our world. I think you're really doing great with them."

Arturia smiled uncomfortably at that. "It is not the people that really bothers me, nor the fact, I am now needed to perform more in my capacity as a Servant, Shirou," she said before staring down at what she was wearing. "I am more… displeased with the outfit that Sakura and Illya had given me." What she wore was a maid outfit similar as that of the others that work there. The only difference was that hers was a little bit shorter than the normal ones. "I do not understand why they insisted that this outfit would be better." She chose not to remember the compliments that the customers had given her outfit.

She had really no choice in the matter after Rin had called her to explain why she would have to start working as a maid now. Since Rin and Shirou would be going to work part-time at Beacon Academy at the start of its 2nd semester, the café would need more hands during those times they are gone. It was with great reluctance that Arturia had to agree to her Master's logic about getting her started soon before that. She was very unhappy with the arrangement, and that was even before she saw what she would be wearing.

Perhaps, had she not disagreed so vehemently the first time, Rin would have given her the proper maid outfit from before, and not the short skirt version that she currently wore. She didn't believe for a second that her Master had agreed to Illya and Sakura's wishes, simply because "They made a good argument for it." She was sure her Master had her own ulterior motives behind it, probably to get back at her for defying her the first time around.

Given the look of pleasure the magus had on her face when she saw her Saber in the outfit, it was entirely safe to say that those ulterior motives were a bit more unclean that the Servant had thought so and she would have still ended up in the short skirt maid outfit.

"It does look good on you though," said Shirou after he blushed at seeing the outfit.

The blonde maid's cheeks reddened at the comment. "Are you sure, Shirou?" she asked. "I do not look… improper?" She was going to say 'indecent' but thought better of it.

"I-I think you look cute in it," nervously answered Shirou before he started focusing back on the food he needed to prepare. "You should probably head back. There are other customers waiting to be served." He tried not to look at the flustered face of his lover as he said so, since he had also wanted to avoid showing the same reaction from his face.

Arturia walked briskly away to hide her own embarrassment. She went to a table where another set of regulars who had just recently arrived.

"Good morning, how may I be of service?" At least this time she was able to say so without stuttering.

"Miss Arturia?"

A familiar blonde boy sat on the table with people she had recognized as probably the team he had talked with her about. They sat with the other students that she had seen at the docks just some nights ago. She took a moment to recollect the boy's name.

"Your name is Jaune, correct?" she said with a smile. "I had not expected to see you here."

"I… was told that you would start working here soon," said Jaune. "I wanted to thank you for the advice that you had given me before and tell you how grateful I am for following it." He struggled to keep himself from mincing his words. "Although… I hadn't really expected us to see each other like this."

Arturia saw Jaune blush a little and was trying hard not to look directly at her. She understood that her current outfit must be quite a different change from the image he had of her before. "I'm sorry that I look somewhat different today," she said bashfully. "This is not something I had a choice with."

"But you look so cute in that outfit!" said Ruby.

"I agree with Ruby on that," smiled Yang. "That outfit really suits you."

"It's not that bad," said Weiss. "Even though it looks a bit too short for me, it works well on you."

Blake snorted at that. "Says the girl wearing a dress just as short."

"It's a combat skirt!" proudly declared Weiss.

"Yeah!" said Ruby before they both slapped hands in agreement.

Team RWBY seemed perfectly fine with Arturia. Team JNPR was much the same way, with the sole exception being Pyrrha, who had eyed the short-skirted maid with wariness. It was probably mostly due to her Jaune's reaction toward the girl, that had caused some feelings of jealousy to arise from her. She must feel that this girl was more dangerous for her than Weiss, since the latter was in no way interested in Jaune.

"I thank you for your kind words," said Arturia gratefully. She was a bit less embarrassed now due to the positive words directed at her. "Would you care to give me your orders?"

The students ordered up drinks and a few appetizers. Arturia had inquired if they were not particularly hungry, if that was all that they ordering. She was told that both Teams were waiting on more people to be arriving soon and wanted to wait for them before ordering their lunch.

Team RWBY were waiting on the students from Atlas and Team SSSN of Haven Academy. Team JNPR were also expecting Teams NDGO and ABRN to join them.

It wouldn't take that long before everyone would arrive, but one of the teams would be a little later than the others due to one of its troublesome members.

* * *

Sun Wukong was busy browsing a produce store, checking out the freshness of the apples and bananas out on sale. It was all legit as far as anyone was concerned since the boy kept picking up and putting down fresh fruit, as if checking for the best one. Picking out the best one was true enough, however, the monkey faunus had the bad habit of _forgetting_ to pay for it and hiding it somewhere no one could see on his way out.

After selecting a particularly ripe banana that suited his tastes, as usual, he just left the establishment without having to pay for it. Once he was out of the premises, he was about to go and find his team, when a hand caught his arm.

"I believe you forgot to pay for that," said a womanly voice from behind him.

He stopped and looked at the person who caught him, and saw a beautiful woman with long purple hair, accompanied by a girl beside her who had shorter violet hair.

For a moment, the beauties left him somewhat stunned, but he managed to get over it after he remembered what he had just been caught doing. "I don't know what you mean," he feigned innocence.

The woman looked accusingly at him and said, "That banana on your jacket pocket, you didn't pay for it yet."

"I… uhm… This isn't what it looks like," he said guiltily.

"I'm sure it isn't," said the beautiful woman in a stern but unconvinced tone. "Would you care to pay for it before you leave then?"

"Sure thing!" answered Sun as he tapped his pockets for his liens. He was in enough trouble as it is when he first got in Vale. Having to pay for a banana would be the least of his problems.

Sadly, it would seem there might be a small problem with that.

He kept checking his pockets for his liens but couldn't find them anywhere. "I-I can't find it! I thought I brought it with me today!" he said in a panic. The store owner was now outside and had apparently heard the conversation about a potential thief stealing from him.

"You dirty thief!" angrily yelled the store owner. "You weren't planning on paying at all were you?!"

The faunus was in really deep trouble now. "No! I can pay for it, I swear!" he said. "Let me just call my friends on my scroll and—" He froze as he couldn't find his scroll anywhere on him either.

"The only people getting called in here are the police," said the store owner.

"Look, you don't have to do that," said Sun desperately. He could always run for it but that wouldn't look good for him or his team after the first time already. "I just need to find a way to call my friends and they can pay for it."

The store owner was not convinced of this. He was about to call the cops but was stopped by a hand at his side.

"I'm sorry, but would it be alright if we paid for it instead?" said the violet haired girl with a smile at the man.

"Are you sure about this, Miss Sakura?" he asked unsurely. "If he really was stealing, then this thief needs to face justice." He was very fond of the customers from Radix Book Café, since they had a good eye for quality produce at his store.

Sakura simply nodded at him. "We'll take care of it."

"Very well," said the store owner. "You better not forget this again, boy."

Sun chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "I won't, don't worry."

Once the store owner left, Sun and the two ladies with him, were about to part ways, but not before he had thanked them profusely for saving him from trouble. While Medusa looked unconcerned at all by the matter, Sakura was far more understanding of the faunus.

"Thank you," said Sun towards both women. "It would have been a real big problem for me and my friends if the cops came."

"Please, don't worry about it," smiled Sakura. "Just make sure not to forget to pay for it next time."

Sun agreed.

They had said goodbye to one another at the entrance of the store, but they ended up walking the same direction.

"Are you, by chance, heading to Radix Book Café?" questioned Sakura.

"Yeah," Sun nodded in response. "I'm supposed to go there with my team to meet up with a bunch of other students from Beacon who're supposed to be our guide for now, but I kind of got up a little bit earlier than the others and wanted to see the city for myself first." He laughed awkwardly at that. "I guess I'll have to meet up with them there."

As they continued walking, Sun noticed a familiar trio, who had looked troubled and waiting for someone, a few feet ahead of them. "Oh, there they are now. Let me introduce you," he said before shouting out over at his friends. "Hey guys! I'm over here!"

The trio walked over and one of them, a brown skinned and green haired boy took Sun in a headlock. "Where have you been, Sun?!" he said angrily.

"Ow, ow, ow," said the faunus underneath his teammate's armpits. "Let go, Sage!" He desperately tried to free himself from the strong arms that held his head in place.

"We told you not to go out by yourself," said Scarlet. "You know you get into trouble without anyone to watch you."

Neptune also got into the scolding. "And you know you already got us into tro—" The blue-haired teen paused as he saw the two girls next to them. "Well, hello there, ladies," he said with his trademark pose and glistening smile.

Sakura did not know how to respond to that and felt mildly discomforted. She didn't want to seem rude to the boy, but she also definitely did not want to answer that greeting just now.

Fortunately, Medusa had no such qualms about making her displeasure known. "Please keep your distance from us," she said bluntly. "We wish you do not speak to us like that."

Before Neptune could speak, Sun, who was still in a headlock, said, "Don't go hitting on them, Neptune. These girls helped me out just a while ago."

"So you really did get into trouble," Sage said as he tightened his arms around the troublesome head of his team leader.

"Honestly," sighed Scarlet as he took something from his pockets. "You even forgot about your scroll and liens."

"Oh, thanks! I was looking for those," said Sun after he finally manage to get his head free, taking the items. He took out some liens and offered it back to Sakura. "Here you go, I told you I would have paid for it."

Sakura just shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll want to spend it at the café anyway," she answered.

"Oh?" said Scarlet. "You ladies are headin' for the café as well?"

"Medusa and I both work there actually."

Neptune, not one to stay down, asked with a gentleman's smile, "Care to join us, ladies?"

Sakura was uncomfortable with the invitation and so said, "I'm sorry, but I already have someone."

Medusa saw the blue-haired teen move his crosshairs over to her. "I… already have someone I'm interested in," After she said so, she looked over to Sakura and hoped that her Master would not ask her about it later, only to find no surprised reaction from her.

"Aw, man…" Neptune was downhearted from the answers.

"You should stop hitting on girls all the time, Neptune," said Sun. "Sorry about him, that's just the way he is." He apologized towards the girls.

"It's quite alright," smiled Sakura. "One of our employees is like that as well."

"Sounds like the kind of guy you'd be friends with," Scarlet said to Neptune. "Think you two lovebirds might hit it off?"

"Hardeharhar."

"Since we're all going the same way anyways," began Sun. "Why don't we walk you girls there?" He saw the distrustful look from Medusa pointed at him. "Totally not because we have any ulterior motives. It's just a plain simple walk to escort you guys there."

Sakura saw nothing wrong with that and decided to accept the suggestion. It would be kind of awkward not to when they were going to have to walk the same way.

"Maybe we'll meet a few interesting girls there?" said Neptune in a more positive light. "You work there, right? He asked the two girls. "Do you know the students from Team RWBY?"

"Oh, yes." Sakura answered. "I suppose you could say they are very interesting," she said as she remembered the lively schoolgirls. "Please try to behave yourselves when you get there." The thought of all the _interesting_ students there was not a very peaceful scene in her mind.

"You can count on us!" loudly proclaimed Sun.

"Yes, it would be best if you were not to cause us any problems there," Medusa said coldly, while adjusting her glasses. "Troublemakers will be dealt with… _severely._ " Her icy glare pierced the depths of being of the students before her, stunning them for a moment.

"Yes, Ma'am!" The boys nodded in unison and would make sure to remember that for their entire time in Vale.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I gave the OC some little bit of background story because more than a few people seem so concerned about their indentured servitude. The OCs have their own minor backstories and this is only one part of them but I think that should be good enough since it already answers most questions about them. Mrs. Moran was originally supposed to be a mature, quiet, and understanding type of mother like Ed and Al's mom from FMA, but that didn't really happen. I'm not sure why, but its probably because her son was a little too upbeat for that kind of mother.**

 **You may notice that there are more RWBY characters coming in, and yes, that will be difficult to handle. The RWBY cast are going to need the backups against Servants anyway, so it still works for me.**

 **As always, please read and review.** **It will help me if you can point out some mistakes in spelling, grammar and inconsistencies as well. Please do try to make constructive criticism.**

 **You can check my profile for updates.**

 **Again, I'd like to remind people to try and be civil when arguing your points to one another and be respectful. Please don't start using the review section to insinuate others are not smart enough to see your point of view. Make valid arguments and try not to get offended about other's opinions. Also, maybe try to message each other rather than post it on the reviews like writing on a wall, you'll need an account to do so.**


	19. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

 ***Fresh post. May have more than few mistakes here and there. Will update with corrections in several days or so.**

* * *

At Radix Book Café, Teams RWBY and JNPR had finally managed to meet up with their respective charges. Team RWBY's group was on the 2nd floor of the café, while Team JNPR's was settled on the 1st floor. It was decided so, since there would be too many people to get anything done, and it really wasn't a joint assignment anyway.

It turned out to be a very good decision because the groups were already having a bit of friction between the students.

As the team leader, Jaune wanted to start out introducing themselves. "H-Hi, m-my name's Jaune Arc, and I'm the leader of Team JNPR who'll be helping guide you," he stuttered out nervously.

Pyrrha, not wanting to leave Jaune to talk by himself, decided to introduce herself as well. "Hello everyone, my name is Pyrrha Nikos, and I woul—"

"Hey, Jaune," Nebula of Team NDGO, had ignored the talking student and made her way to the leader of Team JNPR. "You're kinda cute. Why don't you tell us more about yourself?" She was followed by the rest of her team who also seemed quite interested in the boy.

"O-oh, w-well… I… uhm…," Jaune had trouble finding his words as the girls from Team NDGO got too close to for his comfort, a feeling that Pyrrha shared a bit more strongly. "I'm not really all that interesting."

"Really?" asked Dew. "Because you seem _very_ interesting to us." A glint in her eye and the smile she gave him certainly proved that to be true.

"Ahahaha…" Jaune could only laugh nervously, as he was unaccustomed being the center of attention from a bunch of girls.

Having had quite enough of this attention on her man, Pyrrha slammed her hands on the table, which got everyone's attention, including that of Nora and Ren who were getting along quite well with Team ABRN on their introductions. "While it is very good to see everyone getting along nicely, I believe it would be better if everyone got back to their seats so we can make proper introductions," she said with a twitching smile at the girls.

Team NDGO didn't really like that and refused to back down.

"Why should we?"

"I'd like to hear more about what Jaune thinks."

"It would be nice to get to know the leader of the team who'll be helping us, right?"

"He could speak for himself if he wanted to, so I don't think you should be butting in."

Things seemed to have gone downhill rapidly, with Pyrrha getting into an intense stare off against Team NDGO, whilst the rest of Team JNPR and ABRN were set aside quietly spectating the ticking time bomb. It was, however, fortunate that the arrival of their food got everyone distracted from the current situation.

"I apologize for your orders coming a little bit later than usual," said the tall, dark, and handsome man dressed as a chef. "We have a lot more customers today than usual, and most of the staff is busy, so I hope all of you are fine with me serving you your food for now." In a quick and professional manner, he laid out the fresh and steaming plates of food all over the table. "If you have any complaints about the food, please do not be discouraged, and inform me immediately," he said before he bowed politely and took his leave.

Pyrrha gulped down her saliva at having seen the delicious food and quickly remembered to stare back at the group of girls that had been getting on her nerves, only to find that those girls were salivating as well, and they had not been staring at the food like her.

All four girls wore a blush on their cheeks and were busy staring at the broad back of the chef as he walked away back to the kitchen. It was clear that their sights were now fully away from Jaune and had acquired a new target of interest.

"Who was that?" said Octavia, almost swooning.

"A total hottie," answered her teammate Gwen.

"Did you see the muscles on his arms?" said Dew. "I bet he works out a lot."

"Now that is what I call a _man_ ," smirked Nebula. "He's exactly my type."

"I think he's every girl's type," Octavia said dreamily.

Pyrrha had far less of an agreement with that. "You can speak for yourselves on that." She was just glad that she would have less competition for Jaune now.

Once the cook was gone from view, Team NDGO had been able to sample the food that they had ordered. They had squealed in delight and praised the chef about as much as they praised the food.

"So…" began Nebula as she came up close to Pyrrha. "Since we're not after your boyfriend anymore," she whispered, which caused the red-headed warrior to blush. "Can you tell us the name of the guy that just came by?"

Pyrrha was unable to answer since this was also the first time that she had seen the man. The only cooks she'd seen before were Sakura and Rin, and that was only because they switch between cooking and working as maids from time to time. Fortunately, someone else on Team JNPR seemed to be in the know.

"You guys are talking about Shirou, right?" piped Nora.

"How did you know that?" said Pyrrha, quite surprised. She was fairly sure that Nora had not met the guy before either, and the same could be said for Ren and Jaune.

Nora slurped down a mouthful of her pasta before answering, "Of course I know his name, silly," she said proudly. "It's a vital information that everyone should know." Everyone around her but Ren looked confused by the statement.

"She means knowing the names of the people who handle your food," cleared up Ren with a sigh. "She's actually very good with that, so you can rest assured that the name she said was right."

Suddenly, Team NDGO crowded the eating Valkyrie.

"Do you know anything else?"

"What's his favorite color?"

"What type of girl he likes?"

"Is he single?"

A barrage of questions assaulted the poor girl who had been peacefully enjoying her pasta. Nora was as overwhelmed as Jaune was a while ago at the sudden attention.

"I-I don't know!" pleaded Nora in distress. "I think he might be with one of the maids here."

"Are you sure?!" said the NDGO girls in unison, as they pressed closer down on the girl.

Team JNPR seemed to have their hands full with their current assignment. It wasn't only them, though, that were having problems. A floor above them, Team RWBY was also having a few disagreements of their own with the visiting teams. Their introductions were also far from pleasant.

Apparently, being a fellow Atlesian, hadn't helped Weiss at all with getting along with the two members of Team FNKI.

"What did you just say?!"

"Like I said," Flynt Coal smirked at the irate heiress. "It's too bad all that money can't buy you skills."

The argument seemed to have started after Flynt found out the reason why Team RWBY ended up as their guide. He didn't hold back on criticizing the Beacon students for failing to catch a bunch of common thieves.

"Hey, we're supposed to be getting along here." Yang held motioned her hand to stop Weiss from getting up her chair. "That's what the Vytal Festival is all about, right? To foster cooperation and trust between the people of Remnant."

"Flynt, she's right, you know?" said his teammate, Neon. "Save it for the tournament and just chill out a bit."

The fedora wearing young man grunted his response but not before giving a cold stare at the Schnee heiress. However much he seemed to dislike the girl, he did still treat the other girls of the team a bit better.

"What did I ever do to you?" asked Weiss, clearly agitated by the negative reaction towards her.

"The question is," said Flynt. "What your company did to my father." He replied testily. "Your company ran his little Dust shop out of business."

Weiss seemed completely taken aback by that. "Oh… I'm sorry…."

Flynt just ignored the apology and didn't seem intent on speaking any further with the girl.

While there had been some animosity from the others, Team SSSN and Penny were far more cheery towards Team RWBY. In fact, Sun had already taken to flirting around with Blake, who for some reason was not entirely displeased by the attention from the boy. Both seemed to get along quite well, in fact.

"Hey there," smiled Sun at Blake. "I'm really looking forward to you showing us around."

"Y-yeah, sure." The girl blushed slightly.

Ruby and Penny were giggling whilst talking amongst themselves. They've only known each other for a short while, but the two really got along well together. Penny's teammate, Ciel, however, looked a bit more impatient, and kept staring at the time and tapping her foot on the floor.

"Hey, got a question for you." Neptune, who had been daydreaming ever since they got there, approached Ruby. "Do you guys know anything about Medusa?" he asked seriously.

"I'm not particularly close to her," answered Ruby. "Blake's friends with her though, I think."

Having heard her name mentioned, Blake looked over from where she and Sun had been talking and raised a queried brow.

Neptune saw this and immediately asked desperately, "Do you happen to know the guy she's interested in?"

Blake frowned at the boy. "I don't think that's any of your business."

"But it is!" declared Neptune. "I want to know who I'm competing with for one of the most beautiful women I've ever laid eyes on," he said so with a smitten look. "I'll show her that I'm a lot better than him and she'll come to me, and we can go off riding out into the sunset while holding hands."

Blake snorted at that. "Good luck with that. The guy she's interested in would be pretty hard to beat."

"Hey, I'm cool. Have you gotten a good look at me?" He posed with his trademark smile, showing off his every feature. "What girl could resist my charm?"

"If that's all you've got, then you're going to have to try a lot harder than that," smiled Blake. "Medusa is a woman who prefers a mature man who looks and acts like one, not boys like yourself."

"No way…" Neptune fell, downhearted.

"Hey, it's okay," said Weiss to cheer up the boy, a mild blush on her face. "I'm sure there's plenty of girls who would fall for your charms."

"There won't be anyone as pretty as her though," said Neptune.

"Then how about we just carve out that worthless broken heart of yours?" All traces of the blush on Weiss' face was gone now and replaced by a smile that promised dread. "I'm sure it will help ease the pain your feeling."

"Uhhhh…"

"Woah, woah there, Ice Queen," interrupted Yang. "Let's not start killing off our assignments this early." They really needed to try better at fostering cooperation here. "Why don't we start things off again after we've eaten our fill? It should make everyone feel right at home here, and I think I see the new girl coming up with it right now." She saw the short skirted blonde maid from the corner of her eye as she said so.

True enough, as soon as the food had arrived, the students had become much more relaxed and the earlier tensions all gone. Everyone was busy enjoying the wonderful meals, which made for a good time for them to make small talk with each other and get along well. The only exception to this was Neptune, who had been crying face down on the table but still kept shoveling food into his mouth.

"I can't believe she has someone too…" The boy had tried to hit on the maid as well, as soon as his plate was laid out in front of him. Of course, he was rejected, and quite firmly to boot. Apparently, most of the people at café were already taken.

"Better luck next time, amigo," Sun said and gave him a slap in the back.

* * *

"Are you confident this will work, Rin?" asked Saber at the magus in her arms.

She and her Master were traveling at great speed towards a certain location away from the City of Vale. Rin was cradling a small pouch of Dust crystal in her hands while she herself was being carried by Saber. They had set off on their journey earlier that morning and we're almost about to arrive at their designated point.

"Don't worry," said Rin, confidently. "Illya and I worked out all the bugs out of it and should work as intended." She said so in a smug and pleased manner. "All I need to do is gather the data on the results so we can work on enlarging the effect. We've already seen that this works with our small tests at home, so there shouldn't be any problems at all with this one."

Saber frowned unsurely, regardless of the assurances given by her Master. She would have preferred to have another Servant with them just in case, however, Rin had insisted that they would be far enough away from any of the locals to cause any problems. The only ones who would be there to witness them would be the creatures of Grimm that crawled all over the area.

Both the girls were moving too quickly for the spread out creatures to come close enough to get anywhere near them as they travelled. Some of the monsters did try to chase them, but was left behind in a moment by the superior speed of a Servant.

"We're finally here," said Rin as she saw a small clearing devoid of Grimm.

Once there were no longer obstacles to maneuver out of the way, it became easier for Saber to reach the center of the safe zone. It didn't take long until they finally arrived at the middle of it and landed a few feet away from where a lone stone pedestal rested.

Rin got on her feet and came up to slowly inspect the stone furniture. "Good," she nodded to herself in approval. "It doesn't look like there's any problems on this end. The Dust crystal are stable and still strong, even after sitting here for a few weeks now." She took out more Dust crystals from the pouch she brought and began making modifications to the formalcraft circle engraved on the device.

Saber watched the surrounding area vigilantly for any signs of danger as her Master worked on modifying the Bounded Field that had been placed on this area.

"Okay, I think that should do it," said Rin as she wiped the sweat off her brow. "Time to get on to the real work." She took out a small blood red Dust crystal that glowed ominously dark from inside the pouch. "I'm not really happy turning such a perfectly good Dust crystal into this, but there really is no other choice if I want to make sure of the results of the Bounded Field."

As the top class magus explained to everyone else before, the Bounded Field that they had successfully made before was only the beginning. Its original design was to repel all the creatures of Grimm within its sphere of influence. Unfortunately, the flaw was that the creatures would start amassing near the end of the barrier when there was something attracting them from inside. This case was proven to be on point during Archer's observation of the incident with the students at Forever Fall Forest.

The Grimm, Rin had researched, were attracted to the negative emotions and also attacked people on sight. The new Bounded Field was made with the intention of masking the presence of anything within it, rendering anyone inside, practically invisible to the creatures even if they were inches away from each other.

"A little bit of 'All the Worlds Evil' packed into a small crystal," said Rin. "Now let's see if any of this leaks out."

Saber turned and stared uneasily at the crystal her Master held between her fingers. "Are you sure this is safe, Rin?" she asked once more. "Should we not at least wait until Rider joins us before you start this?"

Once Rider's shift was over at the café, she would come and join up with the two to begin dismantling the device and proceed to haul it back with them. It was much too valuable to leave behind, given the number of quality Dust crystal it held, and an evidence to the presence of their magic.

Rin sighed. "You worry too much Saber," she said, then started the incantation that would release the negative energy that had been bound inside the Dust crystal.

 ** _"_ Ein Riss zeigt sich, dann sinkt Dunkelheit herab _."_**

The crystal pulses in dark red energy before it shattered, sending waves of power into the surrounding vicinity.

Satisfied with the reaction, Rin huffed proudly at Saber. "I told you everything would go as planned. The energy should have been contained within the Bounded Field and the Dust crystals on the pedestal should be perf—," She froze from her speech as she had just now noticed something about one of the Dust crystals she had placed.

"Rin?" queried Saber at the sudden pause of her Master. "Is everything alright?"

 ***RAAAAAWWWWWR!***

The roaring and growling of beasts permeated the air, sending scores of birds flying off into the skies and away from the area. The united thundering noises of their howls of rage could be heard from miles away. It was obvious that the creatures of Grimm had more than felt the energy that was supposed to have been blocked by the Bounded Field.

"I… seem to have messed up," smiled Rin in complete dread at her Servant.

Saber was not happy with that news. "What happened, Rin?"

Rin looked away in shame from those strong accusing eyes of the King of Knights. "I might have… brought a wrong piece of Dust crystal and used that on the Bounded Field…" she answered in a mumble.

The barrier had encompassed a larger area than before and had only a few trees here and there. This was why Saber could easily see the number of different Grimm had now begun on gathering around near its perimeter. Fortunately, it would seem that the effect of the Bounded Field was still able to repel them.

It was unfortunate, though, that there were a great deal many of the creatures now blocking their way home.

"Rin," said Saber. "We should leave now before they become too many. It will be difficult for me to fight them while protecting you."

The magus, although slightly depressed due to her mistake, was still completely calm about the situation. There was no need to panic anyway since they weren't in danger from the creatures due to the Bounded Field keeping them at bay.

"I can't believe I made a mistake on this," sighed Rin to herself before addressing Saber. "It's okay, Saber. Just grab Shirou and Rider and tell them to come here and clear out the Grimm. I still need to check the Bounded Field for the effects of what happened and record it so we can still salvage the test results for the project. We also still need to dismantle the barrier later, and me going with you out of this place, will just put me in more danger. I'll be a lot safer staying here and just wait for your return with the rest."

Saber was not pleased with the decision of her Master. "I don't think I should leave you alone in this situation," she argued.

"It's fine, I'll be alright," Rin assured her companion. "There's no people anywhere near this place since we're only a few miles away from that abandoned city here. We'll have plenty of time to clear everything out here properly, once you arrive with Shirou and Rider. Besides, I need to gather more data on the Grimm anyway, so this time should prove useful."

The casual way her Master said so, made it seem like it was the same kind of hassle when feeding a bunch of pigeons and not closely observing dangerous creatures that could potentially tear the girl to shreds.

Saber sighed.

Sometimes she wondered if Shirou might actually have been the most normal Master of all the Grail Wars. "If anything happens, please do not hesitate to use your Command Spell to call me to your side immediately," she reluctantly said.

Rin looked closely at the slightly worried face of her Servant and smiled. She came up close to Saber and gave her a small kiss on the cheeks, causing the Servant to back away in surprise and blushing madly.

"W-what are you doing, Rin?!"

"Oh, nothing," teased the girl. "I just felt like giving you a good luck kiss to send you on your way." Her smile grew wider. "Shirou was right when he said you look adorable when you're worried for your Master."

Saber felt her face turn red and hot. "I-I s-should go now!" spluttered Saber through her embarrassment. Clearly, she still felt the touch of Rin's soft lips on her cheeks. "I shall return quickly with the others!"

The Servant ran away quickly towards the direction of Vale, not turning back at all to wait for an acknowledgement from her Master. It would seem she was unable to bear staying there any longer.

"Fufufu…" giggled Rin. "Not even waiting for me to talk, huh? Such a cute Servant I have, don't I?" A dreamy expression ran across her face. "As her Master, I will have to make sure to… _punish_ her appropriately later."

The Servant, who had been running at full speed, felt an ominous chill run down her back, which caused her to run at even greater speeds than before. It was lamentable, but no matter how fast the King of Knights ran, there would be no escape for her from what's to come.

* * *

High in the skies of Remnant, an airship from Beacon Academy flew steadily as the passengers aboard it observed the surround area below them. Professor Bartholomew Oobleck and the pilots scanned the ground below them and were agape at having seen a surprising amount of Grimm traveling from Mountain Glen congregating towards a location a few miles away.

The pHd professor had been in the general area, hoping to scout out Mountain Glen for the upcoming student mission assignments. He had not expected at all to see such an extraordinary event happen, especially not during the semester break.

Another cause for surprise was that they found out that the sea of Grimm had fully encircled an empty area but kept from getting inside of it. There was not a single Grimm inside of it. Only outside of the circle did the Grimm moved about, pacing back and forth as if unable to break an invisible wall that is blocking them from their prey.

"What on Remnant is going on here?"

The professor was astounded by the sight and was unable to think for a minute while he stared at the mysterious phenomena. A sudden memory popped in his mind of a similar event that had happened a while ago. "Get me the Headmaster on the coms," he ordered the pilot. "We're going to need some backup for this."

* * *

"So, any idea what's going on?" Sun whispered to Blake.

Teams RWBY, JNPR, and all the students they had been guiding, were gathered next to the airship landing pads. Professor Goodwitch had come up to them in a rush, apparently having announced throughout the entire school for any and all available students to immediately report to her immediately.

Blake shook her head. "No clue," she said. "I'm pretty sure we haven't done anything wrong, at least… not yet."

The Beacon students had planned out the day to tour the entire school with their charges. Since the semester break would leave the school somewhat empty, aside from the necessary staff, they had thought that it would be a lot easier to show the foreign students the facilities of Beacon Academy.

"Students," began Professor Goodwitch. "I know you are currently on your semester break right now, but a sudden mission has come up that requires our immediate attention." Her usually stern voice was laced with a bit of unease and excitement. "Just a few minutes ago, we had received a request from Professor Oobleck for assistance. He had spotted an unusual amount of Grimm traveling through an area and decided to investigate. The good doctor had concluded from his observation was that the phenomena was similar to the one that had occurred at Forever Fall Forest field trip before."

Teams RWBY and JNPR broke the silence and started speculating to one another of such an occurrence. They had directly experienced the strangeness of that time and still talked about it from time to time.

"They found another place without Grimm can't enter?"

"Where is this one at?"

"I wonder if they saw anymore weird statues."

"I'd love to take another photo with Mr. Bear!"

The chatter between the Beacon students left the rest of the students confused at what they were talking about. Only the Beacon Academy students were aware of what had happened back then.

"All right students, settle down," commanded Professor Goodwitch. "I'll be brief with this, since we have no time to spare. Even though your missions aren't supposed to start until next semester, the school has decided to see this as a fully sanctioned mission." She said to the surprise of her students. "While this mission would usually be only given to the more senior students, we don't have the luxury of waiting for them to arrive. You will, however, be directed by two of your professors on this mission. That would be me and Professor Oobleck who will be waiting for us on site."

Ruby raised her hand to ask a question.

"Yes, what is it Miss Rose?"

"Will we be killing Grimm?"

"The nature of the mission is to investigate and secure the area," answered the professor. "We are also to collect any and all materials that may have any relevance to the phenomena." Ruby slumped in disappointment after hearing so. "However, afterwards, once the situation is more stable, we may be given the orders to start hunting down the Grimm." The red hooded girl perked back up at that.

The next student to ask a question was Jaune. "Uhm… how soon will we be leaving?"

A few airships appeared and landed in front of the students in only a few seconds of the boy's question.

"We are leaving as of right now!" shouted Professor Goodwitch at the students over the sounds of the engines behind her. "Everyone start boarding and prepare yourselves!"

Without delay, the students started occupying the airships that would transport them to their first ever school mission. Watching the airships fly away from his office, the Headmaster of Beacon Academy stood with a rigid posture. The beep of the electronic screen on his desk grabs his attention.

As soon as he answers it, the face of his dear friend General Ironwood shows up on it. "Ozpin, I heard what happened! I'm on my way back right now!" said the man. He had been busy conducting the preparations needed for the arrival of his fleet at Vale, but he had dropped everything as soon as he heard the news. "I'm on an airship back to the academy as we speak. How's the situation with the Oobleck?"

Professor Ozpin was a bit calmer than his friend. "Since last I contacted you, the situation has changed for the good doctor. He was forced to land inside the center of all that chaos due to the arrival of a flock of Nevermores that threatened to take down his airship when he got too close to observe. I've already sent Glynda and all the available students we could spare at the moment. They will secure the area as soon as they arrive."

"Will they be enough?" questioned Ironwood.

"While there is a rather substantial amount of Grimm on the ground," said Ozpin. "They should be able to handle the Nevermores in the sky before they land and give support to Doctor Oobleck. He had assured me that whatever force is keeping the Grimm at bay, shows no sign of weakening and will prevent them from getting completely overrun."

Ironwood nodded at the assessment. "I suppose that is all well and good," he agreed. "But the numbers of Grimm you had said earlier…"

Ozpin understood what made the General uneasy. "Yes, the number is increasing. Whatever attracted the creatures there, we must find the cause. I will be sending more students with Professor Port to the location as soon as possible."

"To gather that much Grimm," said Ironwood with dread. "Such power could be a weapon that may destroy all we have hoped to achieve."

"It will not come to that!" declared Ozpin loudly, uncharacteristic of him. "I will not let it…"

* * *

Back where the center of everyone's attention was currently at, Rin had hidden herself, far from the stone pedestal that powered the Bounded Field. She had her back behind one of the larger trees in the area and peeked out at the man who had arrived earlier on an airship. It would appear they had been close by and had been forced to land when some of the flying Grimm had flown near them.

Rin saw the man scan his surroundings before he noticed that large stone pedestal that contained her engraved spell circle and Dust crystals. "Damn it!" she cursed. "First the crystal and now this!"

It would be best if she avoided being seen. Her identity would be at risk and would put the others in the same position as well, if she was recognized.

 _"Saber,"_ she queried through her telepathic link to her Servant. _"Have you reached the others yet?"_

 _"I've just arrived and finished explaining things with Shirou and the rest," came the response. "We will be leaving soon."_

 _"That's good." Rin said. "But I'm going to need you to bring me a disguise before you do."_

On the other end of the link, Saber was bemused by the request. _"Did something happen?"_

Rin wanted so very much to scream out the unfairness of this world towards her, but kept a lid on it since she was still currently hiding. _"It looks like one of those hunters had found our little experiment,"_ she said, her frustration leaking through the mental link. _"I can't take the chance of him or anyone else seeing me out here and figuring out my identity."_

 _"Understood,"_ replied Saber. _"I am unsure of what to bring you though…"_

 _"Just ask Illya for a mask and any one of those costumes she made with Sakura."_

There was a short pause before Saber answered back, presumably from talking with the little homonculus, and told Rin that she had retrieved an appropriate disguise for her. Although, for some strange reason, the Master thought she felt some amusement coming from the link from her Servant.

 _"We will make haste to arrive there as soon as we can,"_ said Saber, perfectly serious.

Rin dismissed her unease at that. _"Good,"_ she answered. _"We need to fix this mess as soon as we can before things get more out of control."_

Unbeknownst to the magus, chaos would only be the beginning of what will happen next for her. Soon, she will come to know the dread that awaits her, for her Servant carries with her the salvation as well as damnation of her Master.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I think it's a pretty easy guess what will happen next for Rin.**

 **Also, I don't speak German at all.**

 **A heads up for everyone, I'll be focusing on character development for the RWBY cast to close off and setup a few things in the next few chapters. The Fate cast may not be out in the spotlight for some of those. Oh, except for Illya. You'll see her quite a bit more than the others. I think... maybe. I don't know. It depends on how I feel when I start writing those out.**

 **As always, please read and review.** **It will help me if you can point out some mistakes in spelling, grammar and inconsistencies as well. Please do try to make constructive criticism.**

 **You can check my profile for updates. A poll is still up on it for potential crossover ideas.**


	20. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

 ***Fresh post. May have more than few mistakes here and there. May update with corrections in several days or so.**

 ****As an added warning, Rin will be a bit OOC in this chapter.**

* * *

Illya was in a rush.

She had left the house as soon as she had given Saber a suitable disguise for Rin from one of the many costumes that she and Sakura had made from their new hobby. The little girl ran as fast as her short legs could move. She had been running so quickly that she had failed to stop herself in time from crashing into a customer coming out from the café.

"Ouch…" Illya moaned after falling on her butt.

"Hey there, you alright?"

The customer she had bumped into, held out her slender arms to help pick her up from the ground.

Illya took the offered helping hand. "Thank you very much… and I'm sorry for running into you like that," she said so before taking a good look at the girl in front of her. "Uwaaah…" breathed Illya in small wonder at the long animal ears. "A bunny girl! So cute!"

"Uhmm…" The bunny girl seemed a little taken aback by the compliment.

"Hey, hey!" said Illya, almost visibly bouncing with enthusiasm. "What's your name?"

"Oh, uh, my name's Velvet."

Illya began looking the bunny girl up and down from top to bottom, causing Velvet to back away slightly due to an instinctive fear of the predatory eyes of the small girl. The short hot breaths and slightly flushed face, possibly from the running earlier, only compounded that fear.

"Velvet huh?" mumbled Illya. "You'd be perfect for some of the dresses we made." She thought about all those different types of costumes that she and Sakura had made for the faunus staff. Quite a few of those would fit nicely on the bunny girl.

It started with them making the maid outfits for the café. But afterwards, they found out that they quite enjoyed putting the outfits together and thinking up different designs and such. Soon, it wasn't just different maid and butler costumes. They started making even more outfits with various themes. A lot of them included some of the uniforms and clothing of various characters from anime that Illya had watched with amazement when she came to Japan.

"I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about," said Velvet.

Illya looked into Velvet's eyes seriously and asked, "Would you be interested in modeling some clothes for me?"

Velvet was quite unsure on how to respond to that, especially with the expecting and bright sparkling eyes of the child looking intensely at her. "W-weren't you in a rush just now?" she quickly said in an effort to avoid answering the question.

Having suddenly remembered just why she had been running in the first place, Illya squeaked, "That's right! I have to go!" She tried to get into the store once more, but was, once again, stopped, when she crashed into someone coming out.

"Woah there, kid." The girl coming out of the store caught Illya before she fell on her butt again. "Better watch where you're going. People seem to tend to forget that when they're in a rush."

"Hey, Coco," greeted Velvet. "Did you need me for something?"

"Yeah. I just got a call from Beacon," said Coco as she gently let go of Illya. "We're getting called on a mission."

"So soon? But what about the foreign students?"

"They're coming along too."

Velvet looked surprised by that. "Sounds like something big happened, if they're including students from outside our kingdom."

Coco gave the now mute little girl by their side a small glance. "We're getting briefed on it as soon as we arrive at Beacon. They want us back there ASAP."

The café doors opened and a group of students came out.

"Settled the check already, Fox?" said Coco towards a dark skinned and redheaded boy.

"That and boxed the leftovers for later," answered the boy, holding out a takeout box.

"Perfect," smiled Coco. "Time to get moving, team. We don't want to keep Professor Port waiting." She turned her gaze at the students behind her teammates. "Sorry we had to cut lunch so short."

"It's no problem at all," answered the svelte girl of the group. "In fact, I am very interested to see just what Beacon Academy has in store for us."

Coco nodded and led the group back to Beacon Academy.

Illya watched as the students walked pass her, some giving her a curt smile and wave, but she couldn't help feel uneasy for some reason. The girl that Coco had spoken to. Something felt odd about her. It might have been because of the current situation, but somehow, she didn't think that was it. She had waited until all the students were out of sight before she entered the café.

Whatever it was that she felt, it could wait. Right now, she needed to coordinate with Sakura on the problem at hand.

* * *

"Hey…" said Rin as she stared at the clothes Rider had brought. "Just what is that supposed to be…?"

Rider, who had arrived before any of the other Servants, did not seem to understand the question. "It is the disguise you requested, is it not?" she said with a tilt of her head. "Saber had asked that I pass this on to you as soon as possible since I was the fastest among us."

"No, I know I said to bring me a disguise…" grumbled Rin. "But… this is…" She unfolded the dress that her sister and Illya had made. "Who would wear such an embarrassing outfit?!"

Again, Rider did not understand the question. "Would that not mean that people would fail to recognize your identity then? Is that not the point of a disguise?"

Rin couldn't refute that. "Well… yeah, I suppose it is…"

"Are you not going to wear it now? You had told Saber that you needed this with as much haste as possible," continued Rider. She watched and waited for Rin to begin dressing herself in the disguise. "Will your identity not be in danger if you continue to delay?"

"Geh?!" Rin had realized she had no other choice in the matter. "Uuuh…" she sulked as she glared at the dress and the _accessories_ it came with. "Fine, fine! I'll wear the stupid thing! It's not like I can complain in this situation." At least it came in her favorite color.

After quickly undressing herself, Rin had, much to her amazement, fit comfortably into her new outfit. "Why does this fit me so well...?" she wondered. The size seemed a little too perfectly suited for her. "And really, what the hell is that fake little brat doing making useless Mystic Codes like this?!" she added as she adjusted the accessories.

"But it would add an additional layer of protection toward your true identity though," said Rider, whose voice seemed to have a layer of excitement and interest. "It seems to suit your overall look quite well, I might add."

Rin pouted pointedly as she examined herself. "As I thought…" she said. "This is way too embarrassing!" she shouted. "Never mind hiding my true identity, I would just die if anyone saw me like this!" She was now in a full blown tirade. "What was I thinking by even putting this on?! I can't go out wearing this!" It would seem her state of mind had taken quite a hit due to the outfit.

"Rin, please. Try to calm yourself," said Rider. "We are too close to—"

"Whose there?!"

Rider's attempt at silencing the Master was too late.

"Show yourself!"

Professor Oobleck had heard the voice in the woods not too far from him. He had already finished his initial inspection of the device that had taken his interest and had been scouting the surrounding area.

"My name is Bartholomew Oobleck, a Huntsman, Doctor, and Professor at Beacon Academy," he said proudly. "It is by my name and these titles that I ask that you reveal yourself to me."

The Professor with a PhD observed and waited. He could vaguely hear what he thought were whispering coming from just behind the trees that blocked his line of sight of what he believes to be the voices of women. He was about to look for himself just who it was, when Rider stepped out of the shadows, revealing herself to the man.

"Well now, I believe I you're the same person that had been giving our students a rough time," he was quick to notice and recognize the woman because of her blindfold. "Might I ask whatever it is you are doing here?"

The question was met with silence.

Professor Oobleck was not dissuaded by this.

"I must say, your presence here is indicative that the phenomena occurring around us right now, is most likely part of whatever plans you or your people are doing. What is it do you hope to achieve, I wonder, by doing this?" he asked, more to himself than at the silent woman. "An experiment regarding the Grimm? Quite possible, I suppose. May haps just a show of force? No, too far out of reach for anyone to actually notice, my presence here was merely a coincidence. Or is this just a test for something bigger planned in the future? It would explain the need to do this in someplace so remote. That could certainly be it. Still, the sheer accomplishment that had been done here, it truly boggles my mind. How is it that you were able to attract and repel this many Grimm, I have not the faintest clue. Maybe if you—"

"Enough! Enough of this already!" shouted Rin from her hiding spot. "Won't you ever stop talking?!" She got out of the tree she had hid behind with much anger. "It's going to be dark soon if I don't stop you!" She had also wanted to be back in her normal clothes before then.

"Oho?" Oobleck was intrigued by the peculiarly dressed masked girl. "A faunus? Am I to assume, perhaps, that you are the one responsible for the phenomena here?" he said so as he compared the way the faunus girl carried herself compared to the woman. He could clearly see that the woman seemed to take a more subservient posture towards the girl, who herself, wore authority as if it was perfectly normal for her. Not a very common relationship he would see between faunus and humans.

It was a little bit strange though, given his experience as a Huntsman, he could clearly tell that the blind woman was quite a bit more dangerous than the girl. The question in the back of his mind is why the woman was subservient to her.

Rin took an imposing and irritated attitude towards the Professor. "I have no reason to answer any of your questions," she declared. "But I do need you to leave this place right this instant."

Oobleck adjusted his glasses and answered, "I'm afraid I can't do that."

Rin glared for a few moments at the man before heaving a large sigh.

"You know, Rider here could fight you by herself. With me here, you're outnumbered by 2 to 1. I'd say you would do well to do as I ask."

Professor Oobleck smiled. "Based on the testimonies of my students, I could be inclined to agree. But you never know what could happen. And besides, I wasn't planning on fighting by myself in the first place."

Rin narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "And what exactly do you mean by that?"

"I may be quite the chatterbox sometimes, but even I don't usually talk this much in a serious situation such as this," his smile grew wider as he looked to the skies above them. "I do find that incessant dialogue is a good way to stall for time though."

The Beacon Academy airships that brought his reinforcements hovered just above them. Professor Goodwitch and the students jumped off and landed just behind him. They had their weapons drawn and prepared themselves for a fight.

"I'd say you're the ones who are outnumbered now, wouldn't you say?" asked Professor Oobleck.

"Tsk!" Rin clicked her tongue in annoyance. "I just can't seem to get a break today."

"I think it be best if you surrendered now," said Oobleck.

"Yeah!" shouted Ruby. "It's time for the bad guys to—" She paused as her eyes shifted from the familiar blind woman towards the masked new girl she had not seen before. "Uuuhh… who or… what exactly are you supposed to be?"

"What's with that weird outfit?"

Rin's brow and cat ears twitched at that comment from Weiss.

"A cat faunus...?" mumbled Blake as she saw the cat ears and tails move in agitation. Briefly… _very_ briefly, she considered if there was anyone like that in the White Fang, but she immediately discarded that possibility.

As lowly as the White Fang has fallen in recent time, they still held at least _some_ standards with their recruitments.

Every one of the new arrivals seemed to have lost a bit of their zeal as they saw how Rin was dressed up as. It just seemed a little out of place for them to see something like that in a serious fight. Kind of like seeing a clown at a funeral.

"What is she supposed to be, a magical cat girl?" questioned Neon, who looked to Flint to check if he was seeing the same thing she was.

A vein pulsed on Rin's temple.

"The outfit does look kind of cute though," commented Neptune as he leered the red magical girl costume.

"Dude," said Sun. "So not the time for that."

Rin was visibly shaking in anger now, but it might also be due to her increasing embarrassment over the comments at her.

"Oh, wow. Did we barge in on a TV show?" said Yang. "Where are the cameras? I want them to get my good side." She began looking around for any signs of the film crew. "I knew I should have taken a bit more time to brush my hair."

Unable to take the stabs at her image any longer, the red faced magical girl declared loudly, "That's right! I'm a magical girl, dammit! What of it?! You damn brats!" She stamped her foot down with frustration and glared menacingly at the students staring at her. There was only so much abuse her dignity could take. "The next person to say something about the way I look, I will personally strap to a table and dissect every inch of their body! You got that?!"

She watched and waited for anyone to try her, but her threat seemed to have put everyone in a temporary silence. Only Professor Glynda mumbled something to herself about magic. "Good," she answered, satisfied. She turned to look back at Professor Oobleck. "You can forget about us surrendering to you. That's not going to happen. But I am still asking that you leave us and this place alone, while I'm still feeling generous enough for that. I did, after all, go to a lot of trouble to make that device over there," she pointed at the stone pedestal powering the Bounded Field. "It would bother me if my research equipment were to be left behind."

"You made that?" said Glynda, eyeing the girl and Rider closely.

"Yeah, what of it?" huffed Rin indignantly.

Rin's simple answer had greatly disturbed Professor Oobleck and Professor Goodwitch. It probably did not occur to the magus that both adults were considering the heavy ramifications of having attracted so much Grimm to this place. Her objective was never that in the first place, so she was simply thinking of the main repelling effect of her Bounded Field for the Grimm.

"I'm merely conducting a simple test right now, but soon…" said Rin, imagining the completion of her project. She did not realize that her satisfied smile looked a little bit too malicious for others and caused much discomfort among her audience. "Soon, I'll be able to take it to the next step."

"W-what do you mean?" said Jaune, nervously. "What exactly are you planning?"

Rin had failed to realize the fear and unease that she had spread with her foreboding words. She looked at the pale face of the blonde boy and smiled with all her teeth showing, "Why, to set a bigger one just like this for the entire City of Vale, of course."

"You fiend!" shouted Pyrrha, aghast by the thought of the city being overrun by Grimm. "We won't let you!" Everyone else was in agreement, as they once more steeled themselves for battle.

Rin looked momentarily perplexed by that. She did not know what seemed so bad about keeping the Grimm away.

Miscommunication can be such a bother.

"You're an _evil_ magical girl, aren'tcha?" quipped Neon.

Rin frowned, trying to piece together the puzzle she seemed to have misplaced in the conversation. "I'm not sure why you would think that way of me, but I can tell you right now that Vale will only be the beginning," she said dismissively. "Next, we will do the same to every single populated city of this world." She leveled her gaze at the gathering of Hunters and asked, "Can you imagine that?"

The natives of Remnant were astounded by such a nefarious proclamation coming from an _evil_ magical cat girl. It was such a thing that only the villains of a kid's show would do, proudly declaring their evil plans against the world to the heroes, all the while looking oh so smug about it like demanding "Praise me, praise me!" for it.

Rin hadn't really expected to be thanked for what she had planned to do, since it was all supposed to have been a big secret anyway. Still, she was expecting a more positive reaction towards her noble goal of anti-Grimm wards for cities.

Instead, she was met with abject refusal and the total assurance of almost every single person there that she would be stopped by them at all costs before they let her go through with her plans. It didn't really bother her though, since she was only really doing it to ensure a safe place for her and the others to live.

"You can deny me all you want," she finally said over the protests. "But I'm not going to stop. Like it or not, this will only be small taste of my plan." She wasn't going to stop with warding the city against Grimm just because the people don't know what's good for them.

"You won't succeed if we stop you here and now," said Professor Oobleck, his demeanor quite serious. "Your plans will never bear fruit."

"Your wrong about that," smiled Rin wickedly.

The Professor frowned. "Why would you say that?" he asked. "Even if you're as strong as that woman beside you, we still outnumber you by quite the amount."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Rin waved her finger at the good doctor. "Have you not heard of 'Quality over quantity?'"

"That may be so, but, given our numbers, I'm quite certain quantity will prevail here."

"The only thing I'll admit that you've been right so far, is that incessant dialogue is a good way to stall for time," as Rin said so, Saber and Archer landed to each of her side. "While we are still outnumbered, I do believe the quality of my people here are more than enough to make up for it," she smiled triumphantly at Oobleck. "Wouldn't you say so, _Doctor_?"

The arrival of two of the three Knight class Servants had certainly raised the immense tension of the place by leaps and bounds. Saber, clad in her armored dress and with her face hidden underneath her knight's helm, just about oozed strength from her very presence, and everyone there did not second guess that she would certainly be a strong opponent to face. Archer, his entire head besides his eyes were covered by the red holy shroud that once bound his arm, was just as intimidating with his stature and piercing steel grey eyes that studied the people in front of him.

Professors Oobleck and Goodwitch, the only fully trained Huntsman and Huntress, now felt the enormous disadvantage of their situation. They could tell that these were not ordinary Huntsmen and Huntresses.

"I never really did have any intention of letting any of you go," admitted Rin with a sigh. "Sure, maybe if it had only been you, I may have been okay with that," she said towards Oobleck. "But now? Now there's just a bit too many witnesses for me to just let this go." She had planned to just wipe the memories of the people involved here and relayed that to Saber. "I'm really sorry about this, but our little secret needs to stay a secret. For our safety and guaranteed success of our plans, of course." An added thought occurred to her. "While your bodies are here (unconscious), I finally might be able to conduct some of the tests I've wanted to do on Huntsmen and Huntresses." Specifically, she wanted to see any signs of magic circuits and the like, since the Semblances acted pretty much the same as magecraft.

Glynda gritted her teeth in anger. "You would do that to children?!" The comment earlier about dissection was still fresh in everyone's minds.

Rin had thought the idea would be obvious. "Of course," she stated. "It's a given that I might be able to get more data from them since their bodies are still growing."

Disgust and unease spread throughout the teachers and students at her statement. The blatant disregard for common decency was not something they were quite accustomed to, even for the ones who had a harsh childhood among them.

Even though Saber was late to get a read on the whole situation, she seemed to have sensed that Rin had caused a very serious misunderstanding, something she's done in more than one occasion with others. She still received fearful complaints from the faunus, from time to time, regarding some of the offhanded remarks that her Master had made towards them. "Master…" she called Rin's attention. "I think you may have misspoke."

Rin frowned at her Servant, but then finally realized her mistake. "Ah, that's right," she said, pounding her fist on her palm. "I really shouldn't disregard the adults since a fully grown specimen would yield more stable results." She had completely missed and misunderstood what her Servant said. "Although, I still think I might be able to find out much more from younger children," she said with dissatisfaction after looking at the ages of the people present. "Well, I guess I can save that for after the completion of the project at hand."

"No, that is not what I meant," said Saber. "I think you may have—"

Before she could correct her Master, a boulder flew right at them, which she sliced right in half with her sword.

"I've heard quite enough," angrily said Professor Goodwitch, whose riding crop glowed with power. "There is no reasoning with people like you. The only way to deal with you, is by force."

"I usually believe in resolving things logically, but as of right now," Professor Oobleck showered the Servants and Master in flames from his thermos transformed flamethrower. "I couldn't agree more."

Saber's Invisible Air cut through the flames and dispersed it easily.

"I take it that our discussions are now over?" asked Rin, perfectly safe behind the Servants. "Because we're really behind schedule as it is."

"We're going to stop you no matter what!" shouted Yang, sending a volley of Dust rounds that Saber merely intercepted.

Rin sighed. "I really don't see what's wrong—"

*Click*

The sound of a camera snapping a photo attracted everyone's gaze towards one of the students. They saw Nora with her scroll out and had obviously taken a picture of the evil magical cat girl.

"Ahaha…" she laughed out weakly as she probably realized based on the stares at her that perhaps now wasn't such a good time for a pictures. "Sorry… I just wanted to take a photo of a real magical girl."

"Nora…" Ren shook his head in exasperation.

"You…!" glared Rin angrily, causing Nora to squeal in fear. "You'll be the first one I work on (Memory wiping, photo and mind) before anyone else!" She wasn't about to let anyone, besides the Servants, remember seeing her in such a ridiculous outfit, let alone leave photographic evidence of it. "I'll make sure to go over you _very_ thoroughly _,"_ she said with much conviction. "Discussions are over!" She addressed the Servants and ordered, "Finish them off quickly, we'll need to cover everything up soon if we want to get back home before dinner."

With that command, the Servants slowly strode forth and readied their arms. Before they got any closer, Professor Goodwitch sent two trees flying towards them. She saw Saber cut down the trees with seemingly nothing in her hands, much the same as the boulder before, however, the two other Servants were now gone from her view.

She knelt quickly on instinct to avoid a very sharp kick sent by Rider who had suddenly appeared before her. It was only thanks to her senses as an experienced Huntress that she had been able react to the surprising speed of the blind woman. She returned the favor with a kick of her own, but was blocked easily by Rider's hand. The Servant grabbed the leg and had a firm hold on it, but had immediately let go when Ruby's scythe almost came down on her.

"You have to watch out, Professor," said Ruby as she and her teammates gathered around their teacher. "She's really fast and pretty strong too."

"Yes, I can clearly see that now." Professor Goodwitch could feel her leg throbbing where she had been grabbed. "It appears you student's had not been exaggerating her speed and her strength." She briefly wondered what happened to the other one, but the clash of steel and blades nearby where unmistakable.

Archer had proceeded to assault the rest of the other students, dodging and countering each of their attacks with the black and white blades in his hands. While considerably weaker, statistically, compared to the other Servants, his combat abilities are very much first rate.

"Why. Can't. We. Hit. Him!" grunted Neptune with each swing of his weapon at the Servant. "I mean, he's chock full of openings, for crying out loud!"

The rest of Team SSSN was doing much the same but were met with the same results. Every time they try to take advantage of an opening displayed by their opponent, they would instead be met with a counter. In a moment, Sage was already flat unconscious on his face when he got too frustrated and overextended, receiving a strike to the back of his head from Kanshou's handle for his mistake.

"My, my, is this the best hunters can do?" Archer said with a shake of his head. "How disappointing." He had taken on EMIYA's personality as suggested by Illya to further hide his identity. "You should just give up now so we can end this quickly."

Daggers and Dust rounds came from behind him, which he dodged and blocked. Team NDGO had joined in to help out Team SSSN.

"Big talk coming from a guy who hides his face," said Nebula.

"I've bet you've got a pretty handsome face, no?" smiled Octavia. "Why don't we cut open that piece of cloth and have a good look and see?"

Archer was amused by this. "Let's see if you can find out, shall we?"

He didn't bother waiting to be struck first this time. He threw Kanshou at Nebula and rushed towards Octavia and swung down Bakuya, meeting his blade with her Kris. With a quick twist of his blade, Archer managed to disarm the girl and plant his knee to her stomach, causing the girl to collapse on the ground, out of breath.

Dew's trident stabbed where his head was at, just before he ducked and swept the girl off her feet with his leg and threw her towards the incoming boys from Team SSSN. Gwen threw her knives at him, but he used Bakuya and Octavia's kris to deflect them. He sent Bakuya as his response to those knives, causing Gwen to shriek as the white sword impaled the tree trunk right next to her face.

"Nice moves, but poor planning," said Nebula, who had just had a similar experience with Gwen. "Throwing away your swords like that, you've got nothing else but that Kris in your hand."

"Is that so?" Archer's voice was as haughty as ever. "It's a very good blade though," he said as he examined and flipped the kris forward and back in his hand, balancing the tip on his finger at the end. "Certainly not as good as Kanshou and Bakuya, but it still has its fine points." He saw Team SSSN and Dew getting back up to confront him. "I find one feature in particular could be quite useful in this situation."

Archer activated the ability of the kris and unleashed a fiery shockwave towards the recovering students. The shockwave kicked up dust and blinded their view. Archer made good use of that and assaulted them during that time. He would have knocked out half of students by the time they could clearly see.

He elbowed Scarlet and kicked away Neptune. Sun and Dew managed to find him and attack him with a string of coordinated attacks with their respective weapons. Sun's staff twirled and spun with quick intensity while firing buckshot Dust rounds with each spin, while Dew thrusted furiously at the Servant.

Archer had anticipated and dodged all of it.

He blocked a thrust from Dew with the kris in his hand. Dew was surprised when he let go of the dagger, causing her to lose her balance. Archer took advantage of this and swapped positions with her, which led to Sun almost hitting her with his staff. The Servant then kicked the girl in the back to send her crashing into the monkey faunus.

While Archer is busy dealing with Teams NDGO and SSSN, Saber's fight—well it was more of a slaughter really, it certainly was quite a bit one sided than Archer's. She wasn't really used to holding back as much as Archer when it came to combat.

The first thing that happened was that Jaune had been lifted off his feet when he tried to block an opening sword strike from her with his shield, sending the poor boy flying to the top of a tree. Ren and two of Team ABRN had already been out of the fight in less than a minute. It wasn't really supposed to have been Ren who was knocked out though. He unfortunately just got in the way when Rin had specifically told Saber, via their mental link, to first get the annoying Valkyrie he had defended.

Saber's remaining opponents were already worse for wear after trying to repel her during the rest of that time. It was only because Professor Oobleck was there to help the students fight, that they were able to break off temporarily from being completely defeated.

"You… you are certainly a very strong lady," huffed Professor Oobleck as he sweated profusely.

He and the students had a hard time fighting the King of Knights. They were baffled when Nadir had collapsed after they saw the Servant just swing down her fists at him. It was only after Bolin received the same attack, did they realized that her weapon was unseen to the naked eye.

"I am a knight," answered Saber stoically, not single sign of weariness or scratch on her and holding whatever weapon she had, up to her head and firm in her grip. "It is only natural for me to be strong." There was no hesitation or doubt in her voice as she said so. "You have impressed me though," she said, surprising Oobleck and the rest of the students. "There are not many who could last this long against me, at least, those short of other Servants."

Professor Oobleck furrowed his brows at that. "…You're not talking of the regular meaning of the word 'servants,' are you?"

"You've said enough, Saber." Rin chided from a distance behind the battle. "End this."

"As you wish, my Master," replied Saber and raised her invisible sword in her hand, ready to strike and put an end to the battle.

A sudden crash and a thump into the bushes right next to Rin paused the battle.

"Ow…" Jaune Arc stood up from the foliage with a hand holding his head. It would seem he had finally fallen from the tree where Saber had sent him to. "Whuz happen? Did I… did I get them?" he said woozily.

"Jaune!" shouted Prryha. "Get the magical girl!"

"Eh…?" Rin paled slightly as she realized how too close the boy was to her. She knew that the hunters, while weaker than Servants, were still physically stronger and faster than normal humans. It would be something akin to magi having a permanent reinforcement to boost their abilities. "Saber!" shouted Rin as she ran away to the dense trees to distance herself from the bumbling blonde boy who had started to chase after her.

Saber was about to come to her Master's aid, but was stopped as flames, Dust rounds, and the weapons of her downed opponents flew at her.

Professor Oobleck and the rest of the students seemed intent on keeping her busy whilst their comrade captures her Master.

"You certainly don't think much of us, if you can turn your back to us so easily," said Professor Oobleck, now ready for another round. "I'm guessing your Master isn't as strong as you are, if she needs your help to handle a single student."

Saber gripped her sword tightly and faced him. "She is more than strong enough, in her own ways," she answered. If her Master was in truly dire straits, she would most likely use her Command Spell to summon her. For now, Rin would have to handle herself until the Servant finishes her battle. "I would have liked to see more of what you have to show me in battle, but I'm afraid I will have to put an end to this quickly."

As the King of Britain faced her opponents, her Master, the supposedly dubbed, Evil Magical Cat Girl™, was busy running for all she's got from the leader of one of Beacon Academy's best performing first year team, mostly specifically due to the presence of a red-headed Amazonian warrior in it.

Jaune Arc certainly didn't consider himself top-notch. After all, he did just get knocked silly into a tree, then falling down from it. As he was running, he worried on how to confront and capture a girl who can command such strong people as if it was an everyday job. On top of that, he wasn't feeling a hundred percent fine right now after hitting his head on the ground. Even after all that, he continued on running after his target because he understood that his friends were all counting on him.

He was expecting the scary evil _magical_ cat lady to be somewhat the same as the Servants, but it turned out that his fears may have been unjustified.

He had already caught up to the girl, who was apparently a lot slower than him, who wasn't even the fastest person on his team. That certainly boosted his confidence a bit that he might just be able to pull this off.

"Stop!" he said as he jumped and landed in front of the girl. "O-okay! I've got you now," he wielded his sword and his shield in what he thought was a threatening manner. "Give up now and I won't have to hurt you!"

The magical girl couldn't help herself and snorted a laugh at him. "Pfft! Ha! You call that a threat? I've seen a student class president more threatening than you, and he was training to be a monk."

Jaune frowned at her. "I-I'm warning you, I will— woah!" He cut himself off after quickly raising his shield to block the black projectiles shot at him by the girl with her hand.

"I'm not going to get captured by some fool!" the magical girl shouted at him from afar before sticking her tongue out at him for good measure. She was apparently capable of moving faster than he thought, if she was able to get that far by running.

Rin was using reinforcement on her legs to gain an increase on her speed. She was, however, unable to keep using it for a prolonged period of time since the spell puts too much strain on her muscles if used too long. She knew that the boy would catch up to her the moment her spell ends.

That was fine.

She just needed to buy enough time until Saber was done with her opponents anyway. It was also the reason why she was already running back towards her Servant.

Just as she broke through the tree line and saw the gallant figure of her Servant, she slipped on the shield Jaune had thrown under her feet from behind.

"Woah!" She fell on her posterior. "Ouch…" she said as she rubbed her sore tushy. "That stupid little— ooof!"

Before the magus could finish insulting him, Jaune had come down tackling her to the ground.

"Ha!" yelled Jaune triumphantly over the girl with his sword up pointed down on her with his one hand. "I got you!" He looked over to his friends and repeated, "I got her guys!"

It would seem that he had done so just in the nick of time, as he already saw that the entirety of Team ABRN was down, Pyrrha and Nora were both battered and bruised, and Professor Oobleck was kneeling on the ground in front of the knight who appeared to have been about to finish him off.

All of them paused to watch Jaune's current position.

"Uhm… Jaune?" Pyrrha did not appear to be happy at his victory though and had a somewhat sour look on her face.

He was confused by this for a moment before the voice from the girl beneath him spoke up.

"Just where do you think you're touching… you idiot!"

Jaune's other hand felt a surprisingly soft and supple sensation. He looked down and saw that he was pressing his hand down on the irate magical girl's modest chest.

"I'm so sorry!" he said and quickly pulled back his hand from her chest. "I didn't mean to!"

That turned out to be a huge mistake on his part.

Rin quickly sent a shot of Gandr right into his chest.

"Jaune!" screamed Pyrrha.

Time seemed to have frozen for a moment as everyone saw what had happened. They saw Jaune still on top of the magical girl with a surprised look plastered on his face. His friends feared for the worse. To their own surprise, the boy started to heave and stagger up to his feet away from the girl he had pinned down.

The next thing that happened was not a pretty sight.

"Eat that, barf boy!" shouted Rin, relishing in her victory while holding her nose down from the smell. Not really much of a victory to be proud of, given the way she looks right now.

Victory was all but assured now for the Master and her Servants.

Archer was down to his last two opponents, Saber had only the doctor and two of his students— not counting Jaune who was still busy pouring out his breakfast, and Rider's opponents, who were the only ones who had managed to hold out better than any of the others. It was probably because they had already known what they were fighting against and had more experience with the same Servant.

Ciel seems to have been the only casualty among their group. However, the rest were close to being dead tired from the fight.

"I don't suppose you'll consider letting us end this as a draw, will you?" joked Yang at the silent Servant. "No? Didn't think so."

Rin walked next to Saber and talked in a loud voice so that everyone could hear. "You've put on a valiant effort, I must say. But it's time for all of you to accept your defeat," she proclaimed towards the tired and battered hunters. "And it's time for you to go to sleep."

She failed to see the implications of her words.

"What you are doing…" scowled Professor Goodwitch. "The people of Remnant won't forget this!"

Rin smirked. "By the time I'm done with you, there will be no one to remember any of this."

Again, failure in communication.

As she was about to command the Servants to finish the battle, a chorus of Dust rounds being fired rang through the skies and hit the Servants. Above them, more airships from Beacon had arrived to aid their comrades.

"Reinforcements have arrived!" cheered Velvet loudly over the barrage of Coco's gunfire.

The Servants gathered around Rin to protect her from the hail of Dust rounds sent their way.

"More interruptions? I'm really having a bad day today!" Rin shielded her eyes from the gunfire that rained down upon them.

Once the gunfire ended, she could see the massive ship of General Ironwood's Atlesian Forces that had come out with the rest of the reinforcements. It was shooting down a few of the Grimm in skies as it made its way closer to them.

"Rin," whispered Archer. "I think it's best if we leave now."

"I agree, Master," added Saber. "This has become far too large to contain. It will only make matters worse if we stay here any longer."

"But the Bounded Field," complained Rin. "We have to at least destroy it so they can't examine it!"

"If we destroy it, then some of the people here will most likely die…" Archer said solemnly, his eyes conveying how he felt about the idea. "…Would you be fine with that?"

Rin scanned and saw that they had left plenty of unconscious students on the ground all over the battlefield. And those who remained conscious, they looked much too exhausted to put up much of a fight and rescue their downed comrades from a sudden horde of Grimm.

For a moment, Rin fumed quietly about the situation. But in the end, she decided she didn't have it in her to sacrifice innocents, as to stupid as they were against being saved. "Everyone we're retreating!" she shouted reluctantly to her comrades. "And for the rest of you," she addressed and turned to the hunters. "Don't think this is over. You'll pay for this, I swear it. One way or another, I will have you recompense me." She was thinking mostly about the price of those Dust crystals she had embedded onto her device as she said so. "My plans will continue on and there will be nothing you can do to stop me!"

With that last villainy line, she held out her hand with Dust crystals between each finger, and threw them at the ground in front of her and the Servants. They disappeared in a flash of light and smoke in front of the assembled audience of hunters and soldiers.

No one saw where they went. However, the dreaded promise the magical girl had left them had been quietly recorded by Nora Valkyrie on her scroll. The young huntress-in-training had not only taken that one picture earlier, but had also recorded some video of them earlier, along with some of the final bits of the flashy escape.

In the time to come, the videos and photo would soon put the world's spotlight on the magical girl, birthing all kinds of gossip and rumors all over Remnant. If Rin had known what would happen in that future, she may have chosen to end things differently, right there and then.

There was only one thing sure enough about her immediate future.

Illya will be very _very_ pleased with the turnout of her work.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I haven't been able to write as much as I want to lately. Real life reasons and stuff like that. I also wanted to work on the previous chapters a bit but that also hasn't worked out. Maybe someday.**

 **The Servants haven't shown much in the fight besides their physical abilities because this was only meant to have been an introduction chapter for the group. Most of their special abilities and whatnot are penciled in for some of the plot chapters. I am basically saving those for when the story has advanced a little bit more.**

 **I'd like to thank Sir Godot for offering his services in regards to any German magecraft that I would have to make up. If you need help with adding proper German to your fics, I believe he is offering free advice for that.**

 **You can check my profile for updates. A poll is still up on it for potential crossover ideas.**

 **I also don't understand why Beelzebub X Highschool DXD would be so popular when it only has like 3 fics of it on this site. As an FYI to that, the crossfic idea for that is more of a crackfic.**

 **As always, please read and review.** **It will help me if you can point out some mistakes in spelling, grammar and inconsistencies as well. Please do try to make constructive criticism.**

 **P.S.**

 **Yes, I am aware I made the evil villain thing way over the top. That was on purpose since I had a bit too much fun with that. Its very noticeable that I used pretty much every single cliche line I could think of for a villain and incorporated it into the story. Just think of Rin as being possessed temporarily by her Carnival Phantasm persona. You don't have to worry about her staying that way though, since she will be reflecting on her behavior later on. It will probably creep up from time to time though. I very much enjoyed writing her that way.**

 **As expected though, lots of people are decidedly unhappy with the way Rin was portrayed. While I do try to make this close to canon as possible, I won't be a perfectionist about it. I am doing this for fun mainly, after all. Still, I'm not about to disregard anyone's opinions about my writing and the story as long they aren't blatant trolling or unhelpful hate messages. I'll see about putting up a warning for chapters where some of the characters may be a bit OOC if I choose to do so for some reason.**

 **Also, FYI to probably mostly Fate S/N fans, this story will also focus on RWBY. So there WILL... probably be chapters focused on the cast of RWBY. I mean, I did become a fan of both series by reading fanfics on this site, and NOT due to the source materials. Same thing for Bloodborne, and now I have the game and a very budget breaking puddle of blood statue of a handsome young hunter. Still not a fan of High School DXD though, even if I really like a lot of the crossover fics with it.**


	21. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

 ***Fresh post. May have more than few mistakes here and there. May update with corrections in several days or so.**

 ****Warning**Rin is still in the process of recovery from her madness.**

* * *

"Ready! Aim! Fire!"

The reverberating loud boom of cannon fire resounded in tandem as their heavy artillery Dust rounds hailed upon the Grimm. The monsters growled and roared as they were bombarded again and again by the full might of General Ironwood's Atlesian forces. The dissipating bodies of the slain Grimm were scattered all across the ground where the bombardment had hit.

It had taken some time, but the large amount of Grimm that had surrounded the area before, had now begun to disperse and flee, since they were unable to retaliate because of the device that kept them at bay. To stay there would only be allowing themselves to be slaughtered.

It has been several days since the battle ended with the strange enemies that the students and professors had encountered. Since then, General Ironwood has made it his top priority to secure the area as tightly as possible and bring in some of his researchers to examine the device that had been left behind by the ones responsible.

Even Professor Ozpin had arrived to examine it for himself.

"Remarkable…" he said as he closely eyed the resonating Dust crystals that rested upon the stone pedestal. "Just how on Remnant were they able to create this?"

"That's what we're here to find out."

Walking up from behind the Ozpin, General Ironwood had just arrived with a few of his researchers standing with him. With a signal from him, his people quickly began setting up their equipment all over the area, obviously eager to being their work.

"I've brought in some of the same people who had worked on our… _problem_ a while back," he said. "Hopefully, they can understand how the device works. And if not, at least maybe give us a clue on who those people are."

He need not explain to Ozpin as to who he was referring to.

"Ah, yes," said Ozpin. "The Magical Cat Girl, Kaleido Ruby."

He smiled as he saw the confused look his friend gave him.

"Clearly, you've been too busy to browse through the CCTS. The video of our evil villainess seems to have 'blown up' as the kids these days say, all over Remnant. It appears that someone has given her a name, since she herself made no mention of it."

As the Headmaster of Beacon says, the video of Kaleido Ruby has garnished past millions of views on the CCTS. Many were quite amazed with the fluid and fast-paced combat of the villainess' servants versus the protectors of Remnant. Then there some who were also a bit enamored with the costume of the magical girl herself.

General Ironwood frowned.

"That video should have been confiscated and classified," he said as he remembered his subordinates informing him of that particular leak. "I thought that should have been obvious to everyone involved."

"You forget that our students are much too young to be expected to act like the soldiers you brought," chided Ozpin. He didn't seem too bothered by it. "Besides, it seems no one has taken the video seriously. Everyone seems to have assumed it to be a new TV show."

"You're joking…" Ironwood looked at his friend with disbelief.

Ozpin smiled a bit. "Let me give you a short synopsis of the video," he said as he took out his scroll to read from it. "An Evil Magical Cat Girl, together with her servants, declare their plans for the world's destruction while the brave Huntsmen and Huntresses from all over Remnant fight to stop her." He looked up at Ironwood with an eyebrow raised. "What do you think?"

"Well, when they say it like that…" sighed the General. "Even I have a hard time believing it was real."

"It's probably for the best though," said Ozpin as he put away the scroll. "This way, we can avoid inciting unnecessary panic over the populace. The problem now is on how we find and stop this 'Kaleido Ruby' from enacting her plans on the city of Vale."

"I already have my people investigating every lead they can. I can assure you that we won't just stand by and wait for Vale to fall."

Ozpin nodded his head gratefully at that.

"Thank you, James."

As the two were busy talking with each other concerning all of what's happened, a few students were observing them carefully from underneath a tree where they were taking a break.

"Think they know anything?" said Mercury who was leaning on the tree.

"Doubt it," Emerald said before taking a drink of water.

They were part of the few group of students that had been tasked with helping with wiping out the Grimm in the area. Most of them were the reinforcements that had arrived to help in the battle against the magical girl, since they were in better shape than the group that faced off directly with the villainess and her servants.

"I'm really curious to see that thing they've been looking at," said Emerald as she squinted her eyes to try and see better.

"Believe me, I know the feeling well," said Cinder as she sat casually nearby browsing through her scroll. "But the security here is too tight. And there are far too many people here right now for your Semblance to work our way in."

The General had made sure to put as many of his soldiers on security detail as he can for the entire area since there was a high chance that their enemy would come back to retrieve their property. There would be no place left unguarded or unwatched for the foreseeable future here.

"Those people sure did make a mess of things," said Mercury.

He wasn't just speaking about the hunters, but for their little terrorist group as well. The increased amount of Atlesian soldiers prowling around the city has made it a good deal harder for their own people to move around unseen. It hasn't helped that General Ironwood seemed intent on rooting out every single lead he can find and started cracking down on all underground activities all together while he was at it, effectively limiting the White Fang recruitments and preparations for their plans.

"This might not be so bad," mused Cinder, getting a curious look from both her subordinates. "We might be able to take advantage of this, if we play our cards right. Maybe things we'll even come out better for us."

She had a smug look on her face as the gears in her head thought up of how they can utilize the current situation for them. A plan formed that would ensure that their own party will come out on top.

* * *

"I can't believe what happened…"

In a corner of a rather plush room, Rin's face was boiling red from embarrassment as a video of her earlier performance was being played in the background. Sakura was by her side and trying to be supportive of her sister's current dilemma.

"It's really not that bad, Oneechan," she said with an awkward smile as she tried to get her sister's spirits up.

Illya, on the other hand, had a delightfully evil smirk plastered on her face as she replayed the video on her scroll again for the 3rd time.

 _"_ _Don't think this is over. You'll pay for this, I swear it. One way or another, I will have you recompense me!"_

"It wasn't my fault!" denied Rin with tears in her eyes. "I wasn't thinking clearly because of the outfit!"

"Illya, I think my Master has had enough…" said Saber.

The Servant tried to stop the homunculus from teasing her Master. Although, she wasn't really all that convincing since she looked to be trying to suppress a smile that kept creeping up on her face from watching her Master struggle with each comment she had made coming from the video. It was, after all, rare for her Master to be the one in such a state instead of the other way around.

Illya had been torturing Rin with the playback of the earlier encounter ever since Euly had brought it up to the others. Of course, she didn't miss out on taking advantage of said Magical Cat Girl about it.

"My, my," Illya said with a shake of her head. "Who's acting like a child now, Rin? Weren't you the least bit embarrassed saying all those tasteless lines? It's no wonder those people thought you were a bad guy."

Illya looked on with savage revelry as the magus backed away and quivered in her corner. "Like a middle-schooler with an overactive imagination. I never thought you had a side like that," she said, causing Rin to further sink into depression and embarrassment.

"I-It's probably because you did something with the dress or those weird mystic codes you made with it," defended Rin.

 _"My plans will continue on and there will be nothing you can do to stop me!"_

"Ahhhh!" Rin cried out in shame. "Stop it, please! Just stop!"

"For your information, there was nothing besides cosmetic magecraft that were applied to those mystic codes," Illya answered with a huff.

The little magus was actually quite proud of those. It had taken her quite an amount of work to make those items. She had created them since she was a little unhappy about the fact that faunus only displayed one physical animal trait, something she couldn't quite overlook.

"You should be glad that I had Euly spread your new persona a good name," proudly stated the little white haired imp.

"…What?"

"That's right." Illya looked triumphantly at the paled face of Rin. "Everyone was quite receptive to it, and you're now known as Kaleido Ruby!"

"Noooooooo!" screamed out Rin.

The name seemed to have been the final nail to her coffin as her mind seems to have overloaded from the stimulus and had now shutdown.

"Enough already, Illya!" Shirou lightly hit his Master on her head with a chop, causing her to let out a small cry. "Can't you see that Rin's already out of it?"

True enough, Rin seems to have a faraway blank look in her eyes staring at the ceiling. She was now mumbling weird dark phrases incoherently as Sakura frantically tried to bring her sister back from the brink of nothingness.

"Owwie," Illya pouted as she rubbed the spot where Shirou hit her. "I was only getting back at her for all those mean things she said about me!" she argued.

"Even so, you've gone a bit too far, Illya," scolded Shirou seriously. "She was already feeling bad about her mistakes earlier. You really shouldn't have made her feel any worse."

Instead of feeling guilty about it, Illya looked defiantly at her Servant.

"Why are you taking her side again, Shirou? You're supposed to be MY Servant, not hers!" she said. "Always, you pick someone else and not me. Even though I thought we would be a lot closer after we became contracted…"

Shirou seems to have noticed that he must have hurt Illya's feelings.

"Look, Illya…" He said as he tried to reach out to her.

"No!" the little girl slapped the hand reaching out to her. "Shirou, you idiot! I hate you!" she yelled before running out of the room and slamming the door behind her, leaving Saber, Shirou, and Sakura all alone with the still out of it Rin.

After a few awkward silence passed, Shirou said, "…I should go after her."

Before he could leave, Saber grabbed his arm. "It may be best to leave her alone with her thoughts for now," she said. "I'm sure she will come back when she has cleared her mind."

Shirou looked uneasy but, nevertheless, nodded in response. He decided to help Sakura in helping out Rin than wallow in his guilt.

* * *

In the commercial district of the city of Vale, Illya walked aimlessly as she fumed silently because of how Shirou acted towards her, and more importantly, how she had acted and lashed out like a child.

"Stupid, Shirou…" she grumbled.

It was the truth that she was the oldest among them, if you didn't count the Servants. She was still older than Rin and Sakura, although her appearance and mental attitude was that of a young child.

But that just made it all the more worse on her because she understood that. She knew that she had gone too far with her teasing. But having Shirou point that out to her, just made her feel angry and jealous of Rin. It also bothered her that Sakura was supposed to be the youngest but was the one who acted the most mature of them. She just couldn't help feeling that way even if she knew she was the one in the wrong.

She stopped walking.

"What am I doing?" she asked herself, downcast.

"Illya?"

She looked up from her gloom to see her friend, Penny, standing at arm's length from her. The usually bubbly girl had a very concerned look on her face as examined Illya's face closely.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Illya didn't know exactly what it was that compelled her, but her bottled up emotions broke open then as she saw her very first friend, making her lunge forward to hug Penny across the chest.

"Illya?!" said Penny in surprise.

 ** _*hic* *hic*_**

The distraught little girl began to sob on her friend's chest.

"Uwaaah!"

Illya grabbed on tightly and buried her face into her friend to make her crying a little less obvious to the people around them. She continued to sob as she held Penny close to her tightly. Her arms wrapped around the orange haired girl strongly, but Penny didn't seem to mind.

Penny didn't know what was wrong with Illya so she just proceeded to let her cry as she held her friend in her arms to wait until she felt a little better. She hugged Illya gently in her arms and proceeded to stroke the little girl's hair.

In a while, after Illya had finished crying a little bit, both she and Penny sat down on a porch in a corner of the street. Illya still held on to Penny's clothes with one hand, as if making sure that her friend wouldn't just vanish.

It was the first time Penny had ever seen Illya so vulnerable since they've met. They hadn't known each other for very long, but her white-haired friend was always smiling and bouncing with joy whenever they had met. It truly did make her happy that they became friends.

"Would you like to talk about what made you cry?" asked Penny. Illya frowned a bit, seemingly unsure. "I heard talking about your troubles with your friends can really help."

Finally, Illya nodded her head slowly in response. She told Penny of how she had a fight with her brother and how she was mad at him, but was also mad at herself for behaving so childishly when she knew she was wrong. Of course she tried to defend herself a little, and didn't tell Penny anything specific about their secretive life. She had only simplified and summarized the main points of the cause of her emotional distress.

"So you're mainly angry at yourself for acting like a child in that situation?" said Penny, a little confused. "Isn't that okay since you are one?"

"You don't understand…" frowned Illya, tears beginning to well up once more in her eyes as she realized that she couldn't tell Penny the whole story. "How can you, when there's so much you don't know."

Penny squeezed the petite hand of her friend that was holding on to her.

"Then make me understand," she said to Illya. "Tell me exactly why you're hurting."

"That's just it… I can't tell you." Illya couldn't tell her problems without revealing at least part of the full story about her, which would extend to exposing everyone else. "I'm sorry, Penny. I'm really grateful to you for being here with me, but talking to you about this… isn't going to work," she said as she shook her head. "I… I have to go now."

"Illya…"

Penny tried to stop her friend from leaving but Illya had already gotten up and was already about to cross the street.

"Illya, wait!" shouted Penny urgently.

Illya ignored the plea, and just wanted to get away faster. She didn't notice that the crosswalk hadn't turned green yet. The sound of a horn blowing caught her attention. Standing still in the middle of the crosswalk, she saw a truck coming down straight towards her. There was nothing she could do with it so close.

 ** _*Crash*_**

Her eyes were shut as she had looked away from death that came towards her. After a moment, she wondered why she was still okay. She opened her eyes to find herself staring at Penny's back. Her friend had stopped the truck cold in its movement with just her bare hands. It amazed her that Penny was able to do that, regardless of her being a huntress-in-training.

"Are you okay, sir?" Penny asked the driver, who was dumbfounded but managed a simple nod.

The girl turned and did the same with her friend. "Are you okay, Illya?"

That seems to have snapped Illya back into reality.

"Never mind me!" she said in a panic. "I should be the one asking you that! You just stopped a truck by yourself! Aren't you hurt?!" She had asked because she noticed her friend was trying to hide her hands behind her back.

People all around them started to gather as they watched the scene of the accident. Penny seemed to have seen this as more of a problem than the assurance of her well-being.

"I… I think I should go now," she said and quickly took off into a side alley.

"Wait!" Illya was the one this time trying to stop the other. "Penny!" she shouted as ran after her friend. She was a little too slow though and was already falling fast behind. "Please, Penny. Don't leave me!" she cried out desperately.

The desperation in her voice seems to have reached Penny, because the girl had halted and looked back to her friend.

"I'm… sorry I can't tell you about my problems," said Illya as she kneeled on the ground after catching up. "I'm sorry you got hurt because of me… and I'm sorry I'm not a very good friend!" As soon as she admitted that, the tears in her eyes stung as they trailed down her cheeks.

Suddenly, Illya was picked up from the ground and was being embraced by Penny.

"It's okay, Illya," whispered Penny in a soothing voice. "I'm not mad at you at all, and I didn't really get hurt." That seems to have stopped her friend's crying. She stood Illya back up on her feet and looked at her. "It's just that… I have my own problems that I couldn't really tell you about as well," she said as she showed the palms of her hands. "Something I was supposed to keep a secret."

On Penny's palms, Illya could see something that looked to be much like steel. There was no bleeding at all where the skin was completely grazed off.

"What…?" questioned Illya since she didn't really understand what she was looking at.

"I'm…" Penny looked slightly frightened as she watched Illya carefully. "I'm not a real girl…" she finished. "My father made me to be the first synthetic being capable of generating an aura. I'm not human, so to speak." Illya blinked in surprise of that.

"…You're a robot?"

Penny nodded. She waited for a few moments to pass as she let the information sink in. The reaction she received next was quite unexpected though.

"…That's… so cool!" declared Illya with wonder in her eyes, traces of her earlier sadness were already gone.

"Huh?"

"Does that mean you have like rockets in your feet?" Illya asked excitedly. "Can you shoot laser beams out of your eyes? Ooh! Ooh! How about transforming?! Can you transform or merge with another robot to become bigger?!"

It would seem that Mecha and robot anime have also been part of the selection of shows she had watched back in Japan. That would explain the starry eyed look she had as she gazed at her friend and expecting her to suddenly do any of the things she asked.

"You… you're taking this surprisingly well," said Penny.

"Hmm?" Illya tilted her head in question. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because I'm not really a real person, Illya," Penny answered a little glumly. "I wasn't born like everyone else, I was made. Just like a doll…"

"You're not just a doll!" shouted Illya angrily, the forceful declaration greatly surprising Penny. "And you're not just a robot! You're my friend! Who cares if you were made or born?! That doesn't matter at all!" She remembered well her own existence as a homunculus and that of the others like her. "And if the people who made you think they can get away with treating you like a disposable doll, then I'll crush all of them," she said with a dark look in her eyes that sent chills down Penny's back.

"Oh, no, no, no," Penny quickly denied. "My father who created me is a real nice man and has treated me as if I was a true daughter of his. He would never think of doing anything bad to me." That seems to have made Illya drop her darker thoughts as her expression softened a little. "Even General Ironwood has treated me kindly."

"Thank goodness," sighed Illya in relief. "I thought that maybe they were abusing you or something."

"Why would you think so?"

Again, Penny saw the dark look return to her friend's eyes. For a few moments, Illya kept silent, seemingly struggling with the thought of telling the truth or not.

"…I guess it's only fair that I tell you my secret since you told me yours," she said after finally coming up with her decision. "But you have to promise!" She looked seriously at Penny. "Promise me that you won't tell anyone about this. Because if anyone found out… then, I won't be able to stay here anymore."

Penny seemed a taken aback by that, but nonetheless, nodded. "I promise," she said wholeheartedly.

Illya had wondered how to begin explaining to her friend, but then, an idea struck her.

"Here, watch carefully," she said as she gently held both Penny's hand in hers and closed her eyes.

Penny wondered what her friend was doing, but saw for herself in a moment. A faint blue light emanated from the damaged skin on her palms, and started to knit and mend together. Soon, her skin had, once more, covered any signs of the metal that lay underneath it.

Illya opened her eyes and smiled at her friend. "There, that's much better now."

"Wow," said Penny in amazement. "Was that your Semblance?"

"It's not a Semblance," answered Illya, confusing her friend. "It's just what you would call magic." That answer didn't really serve any less in wiping Penny's confusion. "I'm a magus, just like the magical cat girl you and Ruby encountered." Penny was wide-eyed at that. "Although, I think that Rin wasn't acting quite like herself at the time because of the outfit I gave her and how she wanted to keep her identity a secret," admitted Illya with a sigh.

Penny froze in complete surprise of the secret her little friend had just revealed to her.

"I hope Rider didn't hurt you or the others too badly," Illya said with a smile. "Archer did really well in trying to knock out the other students without hurting them, but I can't really say the same for Saber though."

"Illya…" Penny looked like she couldn't believe what she had just heard. "You… you're part of the people who want to destroy Remnant?" she said.

"No!" loudly denied Illya. "That's just a misunderstanding Rin caused! We don't want anything like that at all!" She pouted as she remembered exactly just how badly that happened. "We're only trying to protect ourselves and the city we live in."

The little magus began to explain some of the truth about them. A little bit of everything, except that they came from another world that is. She told Penny about magecraft, about Servants, about the dangers she experienced, and about how she wasn't really human as well.

That seems to have caught Penny's attention quite a bit. Illya had told her about being a homunculus, about as artificial as Penny was, in a way. She was a product of one of the greatest specialties of a long family line of magi.

"The Einzberns created me," she said. "Much like the maids we had at the castle." She remembered well the lifeless eyes of some of them. "…Disposable dolls made for the sole purpose of achieving their dream. We were nothing more to than tools to them." A sad look crossed her face. "Just like my mother before me, I was also supposed to die for their goal."

She was surprised when Penny hugged her.

"That sounds terrible," said the robo girl, as she tried to comfort her friend.

For a robot made of cold metal, Illya found her friend's embrace surprisingly warm.

"It had hurt…" she continued as she grabbed on tighter to Penny. "It hurt so bad when they cut me open every day." Penny was shocked that anyone would do such a thing. "Day after day they kept opening me up to make me stronger. All the while, they kept telling me lies about how my father had abandoned me and my mother, just so they could control me. Back then, I always thought of trying to get my revenge on him. It was only a while ago that I found out the truth that my father had always kept trying to reach me, but my grandfather always stopped him. If I hadn't met Shirou…"

She stopped in her story and stayed silent for a while after mentioning her brother.

"Shirou was so kind to me even after I had Berserker almost kill him," she said, making Penny feel a little worried about that particular tidbit. "And now I told him I hated him and acted like a child just because I couldn't help but feel jealous." She looked up to her friend. "I'm supposed to be older than them, you know? But I'm the one that always acts like a child, even after getting a new lease on life."

Penny rubbed the little girls head. "It's not your fault, Illya. You can't blame yourself for how you grew up," she said softly. "You never even lived as a proper little girl. I'm sure your brother and the rest of them understand that."

"You think so?" Illya asked in a hopeful tone.

"Of course. If you're brother forgave you for trying to kill him before, I don't see why he wouldn't now just because you said you hated him," said Penny jokingly.

Illya managed to giggle at that.

"Thanks, Penny. It's nice to have someone to finally talk to about it."

"Anytime for a friend!" Penny nodded.

Time seems to have passed by quickly as Illya told Penny more stories about herself. Such as the magecraft she was capable of doing and the short wonderful times she had spent with Shirou and the rest. Both girls hadn't noticed how late it was getting as they traded stories back and forth, giggling and laughing all the while.

Once it was dusk, Illya finally noticed just how long she had been gone from home now. She decided that she should leave now and make the trip back. She still needed to apologize to Shirou about how she had acted, after all.

"Penny," she said with a straight face. "You have to _absolutely_ keep my secret!" Robot girl nodded affirmatively at this. "You can't tell anyone else about it, not even Ruby. Because as bad as the Einzberns were to me, there were still people a lot worse out there that could do even more horrible stuff to us if they knew who we are."

Illya was mainly thinking of the rest of the magi of their world as she said so. The Einzberns were cold and methodical in their research, like true 1st rate magi were supposed to be. But there were some 1st rate magi that even eclipsed them in that regard, more vicious in their experiments and ruthless in the cruelty of their work, all for the progress of their research.

"Don't worry, Illya." Penny saluted her proudly. "I swear no one will get a word about you out of me!"

And with that, the two had bid each other goodbye for the end of the day. Each took their respective paths home as they remembered fondly the feelings of comradery they've developed during their time together. It was a wonderful feeling that Illya considered to be one of the best experience she's had.

"…I'm home," said Illya weakly as she had arrived back her house, not really expecting anyone to hear her.

She didn't notice immediately, but Shirou was right there waiting for her.

"Welcome back, Illya," he said.

"S-Shirou?"

Illya had been preparing herself on the way back on how to approach her Oniichan, but this was a bit too sudden for her. All her plans had basically been thrown out, as she was now unable to think straight because the person she wanted to apologize to was standing before her.

"Forgive me, Illya."

Shirou seems to have beaten her to the punch. He bowed at a complete 90 degree angle towards her. The suddenness of an apology out of nowhere was also completely unexpected.

"I guess I haven't been a very good Servant or brother to you lately, if I couldn't even notice how hard you've been working for us as well," he said with his head still facing the ground. "I'm sorry that I—"

Before Shirou could finish, Illya had tackled him by his waist, surprising the tall young man.

"It's not your fault, Shirou," cried Illya. "You shouldn't be apologizing to me. I should be the one doing that." She surprised him by saying so. "I don't hate you at all! I don't hate Sakura or Rin! I just want us all to be together!"

"Illya…" spoke Shirou softly.

"I'm sorry for acting like a little kid, I'm sorry for teasing Rin too much, and I'm sorry for saying that I hated you!"

A small gentle smile appeared on Shirou's face. He knelt down and dried the tears of his Master and little sister.

"You don't have to act like an adult, Illya." He said as he looked into her eyes. "I don't want you to lose another chance at your childhood, something you've been denied of for far too long already."

"But I…"

"A crying face doesn't suit you," said Rin who had appeared behind Shirou with a small pout on her face. She was leaning against the wall of the hallway with her eyes looking away from Illya. "Even the face you had when you had Berserker try to crush me into paste, was a lot better than the one you have on now."

It would appear that the 1st rate magus has finally removed the madness that had gripped her earlier.

"Rin…?" Illya didn't seem to quite understand.

The jewelcraft-user sighed.

"Look," she said. "Everyone pitched in and made a lot of food right now so that we can just forget about our problems for now." From her side, Sakura stepped out and made a small wave at Illya. "Let's just drop everything and eat before the food gets cold."

"That's just Neesan's way of saying that she already forgave you," giggled Sakura.

Rin gaped at her sister's betrayal. "T-That's not true! There's nothing to forgive anyway since it's not like I would be affected by anything she'd say about me in the first place!" she adamantly denied while having a flushed face.

Given her state earlier, that was a complete and utter lie.

"You know, she was worried about you when it started getting late," continued Sakura.

"No, I wasn't!"

"I thought you wouldn't really care…" said Illya.

Rin couldn't quite look at Illya as she said, "Of course, I'd care even a little bit. A little brat wandering the streets at night is just inviting trouble for us." It would seem she still won't outright say her honest thoughts. "And stop overthinking things too much," she ordered. "Even if you are older, it doesn't change the fact that you have the body of a child. It's understandable that you act like one. So don't bother acting all mature when, even we, do stupid mistakes from time to time."

"Hehe," Illya giggled and smiled at Rin. "You did do something like that earlier." Being reminded of that, stung Rin's emotional wound again. "…Thank you, Rin."

Rin seems to have been caught off guard by that.

"I-It's fine! Don't thank people for something so simple, you runt! Anyways, you can stand there all day if you want, but I'm going to start eating."

Rin made a speedy getaway to their dining room to avoid further embarrassing moments.

"Honestly," sighed Shirou with a shake of his head. "For all her bluntness regarding everything else, she never gets to the point when it comes to these kinds of things."

"Don't worry, Shirou," smiled Illya. "I like Rin just the way she is."

"Let's hurry up and join the others then," said Sakura, seemingly glad that everything's been resolved. "Roman and the faunus have been hungry for a while now and… also a little bit uneasy." The presence of the Servants seems to have been the cause. "Saber and Rider have been a little too eager to start."

Both Servants have been planning their battle for the feast that lay before them. Their imaginary war with each other for food supremacy has gotten to the point that the intensity of their bloodlust has overshadowed the delicious smell of the food, and were know suffocating the others in the room with them.

"…It's almost time," whispered Saber as she glared at her opponent.

"Yes," answered Rider with utmost seriousness. "The battle will commence once the little mistress has taken the first bite."

"Hey, Hey, Ladies, please…" Roman said as he slowly backed away from the table with the faunus already behind him. "L-Let's not say things like that. You're making it sound like this is a fight to the death or something."

"The weak shall perish with nothing!" declared Saber.

"There is no room for compromise on this!" similarly said Rider.

The atmosphere from when they last fought both fought each other in the Holy Grail War was nothing compared to now. The air was heavy with anticipation, and you can almost see the waves of the heat of battle and sparks of conflict flowing within the room.

"…What the hell is going on here?"

Rin, who had just opened the door to the room, looked with her mouth agape at what was supposed to have been a sight of delicious comfort food and relaxing atmosphere. Instead, she was greeted by the scene of two powerful Servants having a stand-off of the Ultimate Holy Food War.

Yes, it would seem that childishness didn't seem to be related to one's age at all.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **The story still hasn't started on season 2 of RWBY. There's still quite a few things I want to do before the end of their semester break. Most of it will focus on RWBY since I can't just chalk out any of their character developments just because the Fate cast appeared.**

 **I also want to say that I've thought up of a different plot point that could possibly completely diverge from the RWBY canon. It's just a possibility for something about volume 3 but it could be a suitable place for me to end the story, if I wanted to. I think it's an awesome idea but maybe I'll just spoil it to everyone someday if I can't make it. What happens will be great! But also... maybe not so great. The price might be too heavy for some people.**

 **For those who have voted on my poll, I've made several oneshots that you guys could read. They are pretty short but I'm quite proud of how they came out. Tell me what you guys think about them on their reviews.**


	22. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

 ***Fresh post. May have more than few mistakes here and there. May update with corrections in several days or so... probably.**

 **Time period is still set around several weeks before Season 2 happens.**

* * *

"Don't hold back now."

Ruby smiled as she spun and twisted Crescent Rose to show that she was ready. Beside her, Weiss held Myternaster up to her face and assumed her proper combat stance.

"I don't need you to tell me that."

In front of the two partners, Flynt and Neon did much the same. They were eager for this match to get started.

"Let's get this show started already," said Flynt.

"Get ready for a beatdown!" declared Neon with a playful smile.

A mechanical voice began to countdown.

" _Match starts in…3…2…1….BEGIN!_ "

Ruby pointed and fired her scythe behind her to propel herself at Flynt. Her scythe misses him as he ducks quickly with a hand holding down on his hat as he did so. Before she could get another swing in, he breathes in to his trumpet, blasting her away with the intense soundwaves it released.

Flynt smirks as he stands up. It didn't last long after a blue glyph appeared underneath him, and sent him a few feet into the air.

"Don't get too cocky now," smiled Weiss. With a flick of her right hand, several white glyphs appeared in the air behind her. Ice shards flew out of her glyphs and came flying at Flynt.

Neon jumped high into the air with her nunchuks, and bashed every single ice shard with it before her vulnerable partner got hit. They both landed on the ground in a moment, perfectly fine.

"You'll have to do better than that!" she said as she swung and spun her nunchuks around like Bruce Lee.

Weiss wasn't intimidated. "Oh, I know," she said as one particular large white glyph was already out above the air behind her. "Try doing that again with this!"

A rather large ice spear flew quickly at Neon.

"Down, kitty!"

Neon went on all fours as Flynt blasted the large chunk of ice with multiple soundwaves enhanced with fire Dust.

"Not bad for a Schnee," Flynt and all of his Killer Quartet tipped their hats off to Weiss before they were dismissed.

"My partner's not so bad herself," said Weiss.

Flynt looked down just as Ruby's Crescent Rose grabbed him by his legs and flipped him over. Ruby took the opportunity to jump on him and had her scythe's barrel blast a round directly into his abdomen, sending the poor boy crashing down into the ground.

"One down!" proudly proclaimed Ruby with a victory sign on her hand.

"…Don't count me out just yet."

Flynt flipped back up on his feet, and kicked Ruby's back, making her trip towards Neon. She was almost greeted by a nuchuk to her face if not for her partner's intervention.

"I told you to take this seriously!" Weiss said as she deflected the initial blow, and started fending off the fast and furious attacks of Neon.

"Switch!"

Weiss quickly turned her back and used a wind Dust charge against another blast of soundwave from Flynt as Ruby took her place to fend off Neon. They stood back to back as they faced off against the attacks.

"This is getting us nowhere," said Weiss.

"I've got a plan." Ruby kept her voice low as she whispered something to her partner.

"…Okay, got it."

Once Weiss and Flynt ran out of wind, Weiss made a glyph underneath her and Ruby. It created a wall of ice around them, blocking Flynt and Neon's view of the two.

"Think that getting cold will keep you safe?" Flynt chambered fire Dust into his trumpet again. "Let me melt away that notion," he said, right before he blasted at it.

But once the ice wall melted, they were surprised to see that their opponents weren't there.

"Heads up!"

Flynt looked up just in time to see Ruby's boots enter his vision. He got knocked out soon after.

Ruby made sure to aim her scythe at him just in case. "And stay down this time!"

"Forgetting someone?" said Neon as she whipped up fast behind her.

"No, she didn't."

Weiss slammed her blade down into the ground between the upcoming faunus and her partner. Ice encased Neon up to her neck, rendering her unable to move.

The Ice Queen pointed her blade at Neon's face. "Game, set, and match."

A loud buzzer rang, signaling the end of the fight.

"Aaaaand we have our winners!" loudly proclaimed Nora from the corner of the practice ring. "Let's have a round of applause for Ruby and Weiss!"

Their classmates and fellow hunters-in-training began to clap. It was only a small bit of applause when compared to their other school matches, since only Teams JNPR, SSSN, the rest of RWBY, and Penny were there. Still, an applause was an applause.

The students have been conducting combat practices diligently ever since their defeat at the hands of "Magical Cat Girl" Kaleido Ruby. They have done so as soon as everyone recovered and were fit enough to fight.

"I retract my previous statement," said Flynt as he sat back up from the floor. "You've got skills girl."

Weiss gave him a hand. "You're not too shabby yourself."

"I-If yo-you're a-all done patting each others back, I-I could u-use some help over here." Neon's teeth chattered from the cold ice. "I'm f-freezing!"

"No problemo!" Nora moved to the ring, hammer in hand. "I've gotcha!"

"W-Wait!"

Neon tried to protest, but Nora had already swung her hammer at the cat popsicle. She closed her eyes. Fortunately, the hammer did nothing but shatter the ice around her.

She opened her eyes to find herself perfectly intact. The colorful faunus sighed in relief.

"Frosty's melted, and now it's time for a little Bumblebee action!"

Yang slammed her fists together as she stepped up to the stage with Blake.

"Don't let us down now," Weiss said as she patted Blake on the shoulder. "Show them everything you've got."

"Give them a good smackdown!" added Ruby.

Blake nodded an affirmative, while Yang gave a thumbs up.

"Hey, why don't we have a cool partner name like them?" whined Sun to his partner as they got up to the stage.

"Dude," Neptune looked apprehensive. "I don't think it would work well for us guys."

"Of course it will! Just think about it! We could totally make Seamonkey work for us!"

"Dude…"

"See, because I'm part monkey and you're kind of water related… I think."

Yang snickered from the side.

"Hey! Are you guys going to be talking all day or are you going to show us some boy on boy action soon?!" she hollered at them.

Sun did not seem to have understood that. "You bet we'll show you how boys do it in Vacuo for real!" he hollered back, which caused Yang to snicker more loudly.

"Pfft! I-I'm looking forward to it!" Yang said as she struggled to keep herself from rolling on the floor. She also took a peek at her red-faced partner. "And it looks like Blake won't hold you back either!"

It would seem there was a lot more to Blake's _Ninja's of Love_ book than the standard romance. Judging by the look on her face, she seems to have a mix of feelings about her monkey boyfriend's way with words.

Neptune just covered his face with his hand. "Dude, I don't even…"

"Just get on with it already!" Ruby shouted out from their audience seats, blissfully unaware of the meaning behind the bantering combatants. She just truly wanted to see the weapons used in combat. "We're here to see some action, so get your pieces out and work them!"

Weiss could only gape at the words she was hearing.

"Ruby…"

"Bwahahaha!" Yang couldn't stop it any longer, and was now pounding her fist on the ground as she continued laughing out loudly. "Stop it, just stop it! I'm getting killed over here before the fight even starts!" she begged as she teared up from laughter.

Thankfully, after Yang finally got it out of her system, they were able resume their match.

"How about a little kiss on the cheek when we win this?" Neputne cockily said to Yang.

"I've got your kisses right here," said Yang as she fired Dust rounds at the boys.

Neptune and Sun dodged and went separate ways charging the girls from the side. Neptune took on Blake, while Sun faced off with Yang.

The two yellow-haired fighters each threw a flurry of attacks at each other.

Yang was quick with her punches and kicks, but Sun wasn't letting any of it hit him. He deflected them with his staff, and even tried firing off some Dust rounds at her while he did so. The battle between them was at a stalemate with neither combatants landing any solid hits.

"Too bad you've only got four limbs," said Sun.

The monkey faunus used his tail to take Yang off balance after her leg came down from a high kick. He didn't waste the opportunity as he quickly spun around his staff to hit her in the stomach and her chin, right before he vaulted a strong kick into her.

Yang growled as she stood back up and psyched herself up for another clash.

Blake was having an easier time with Neptune. Her Semblance made it hard for Neptune to get a hit anywhere near her. The result was that she had managed to make dozens of small hits on the boy without receiving any damage back.

Neptune spund around his weapon in wide swings to hit Blake, but his blade only ever met the clones she left behind. Growing frustrated with the way things were going, Neptune charged up his spear, causing it to cackle with blue electicity. As he swung his weapon at another clone, the electricity jumped towards the real Blake.

She eeped as the current stung her arm.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of a little sting?" said Neptune smugly.

He quickly charged forward to keep harassing his opponent with his electrified weapon. He never got a clean hit on Blake, but that didn't matter as each of his swings and stabs continued to lightly shock her.

Blake kept backing away, trying to distance herself from Neptune. The boy chased closesly after her, not giving her a chance to do so. It got to the point where Blake had finally reached the edge of the stage as she struggled with blocking Neptune's electrified attacks.

"Time to say goodbye!" said Neptune

Blake smirked at him. "Okay, goodbye!" As Neptune was about to take his finishing slash down at her, she ducked quickly. Neptune was momentarily confused by this, which was before his partner crashed into him from behind thanks to Yang, knocking both boys out of the stage.

The loud buzz that followed soon after signaled the end of the match.

"Aaaaand the match is over! Seamonkey loses by ringout! Team RWBY's Yang and Blake wins the-!"

Nora's happy announcement cutoff for some reason. And instead of a round of applause, it was only Penny who who was clapping by herself, while the rest of the spectating students had a surprised look on their faces.

Blake stood up to see what was wrong. She could see the others were looking at the stage but did not understand their surprise. She looked back at Yang who also wore the same look but staring right at her.

It was then that a cold realization dawned upon her.

She quickly moved her hands to check her bow… only to find that it wasn't there.

From out of the stage, Sun groaned.

"Dang… that was a good match," he said as he massaged his head. "Oh hey, I think I accidentally grabbed your bow, Blake." He saw the black piece of cloth in his hand and was about to offer it back to her when he stopped as he looked at Blake's mortified expression.

"Blake…?"

"I-I… I'm sorry!" she loudly shouted before running away from the stage and escaping away from everyone's sight.

Murmurs started among the students left.

"I didn't know Blake was a faunus," whispered Jaune.

"I don't think anyone knew," Pyrrha could tell that easily just by looking at everyone else's reaction. "Not even her own team apparently." She looked at the direction of the rest of Team RWBY. Ruby looked just as shocked as the others, but what stood out to Pyrrha was the bitter and angry look Weiss had.

"Blake's a faunus…?" said Ruby from where she sat. "But why would she hide that from us?"

"Because she's a liar…" Weiss answered with gritted teeth and clenched fists.

Ruby seemed more surprised by the how easily Weiss could call their friend and teammate that.

"That…" she said unsurely. "I don't think that's it. At least, I don't want to believe she would without good reason to."

Weiss turned on her. "You could believe what you like! The truth is that she's been lying to us this whole time!" Her voice was probably a lot louder than she had meant it to be, and everyone else seems to have heard her.

She didn't care.

"Who knows what else she's been hiding from us?! You can't just keep something like that a secret!"

"Hey!" Sun shouted back from the stage at them. "Just because she's a faunus doesn't make her a criminal," he defended. "Would you have treated her any differently if you knew she was a faunus in the first place?"

"Of course not!" declared Weiss with a scoff.

Few people seemed to believe her.

"Yeah, right." Neon wasn't subtle with her disbelief. "The heiress to the great Schnee Dust Company wouldn't treat a faunus any differently from humans. How many times have I've heard that before from one of their PR campaigns."

"Don't start accusing me here!" Weiss yelled back angrily. "I'm not the one who lied here!"

Flynt put a hand on his partner's shoulder and looked up at the Ice Queen with a hand on his hat. "You sure about that?" he asked. "Because it sounded a lot to me like you lied just now about not treating her any differently." His eyes weren't accusing but seemed a bit more concerned. "…A lot more to yourself than to anyone else really."

Weiss took a surprised step back. "You… you don't what you're talking about!"

"Weiss…"

She saw the innocent silver eyes of her partner filled with concern.

"Enough!" she declared. "I will not stand around being blamed for something that is clearly not my fault!" With quick and furious strides, she started walking away. "You can think what you like of me, but the point still stands that Blake had been lying to us." That was her parting words to the people left.

The atmosphere was quite heavy for someplace that had been filled with boisterous cheers just a few minutes ago.

Yang scratched her head as she looked around the dreary mood. "I guess the cat's out of the bag now."

The silence was momentarily disrupted by the collective groan of the students.

* * *

At the foot of a bunch of rocky hills not too far from the city of Vale, the ground continually shook from a myriad of sudden shocks and booms. The earth and stones that had dotted the landscape was visibly split and broken just recently. A few craters had littered the once serene outline of a small babbling brook nearby.

On opposite sides of the brook, two figures stood apart facing each other, a man in red holding a sword in each hand, and a woman in black with chained metal stake daggers in hers.

"I'm not complaining or anything, and I think that sparring with each other is a good experience, but I have to say that you seem to be taking this quite seriously." Shirou's eyes never once drifted away from his opponent's form as he talked. "Is there something you wish to talk about or have I done something with your Master that has displeased you?" he said with a small smile that wasn't visible due to the red shroud that hid his head.

"You've done nothing to her that I can speak ill of," said Rider. "If anything else, I should give you my thanks for making her truly happy since our days here."

Shirou knew Rider well enough to know that she valued Sakura above her own life. "If it's not about Sakura then you've got something else you want to talk to me about." He couldn't think of anything else that Rider would ask him about that she didn't want the others to hear, going as far as asking him to a far out location to spar as an excuse.

Rider was momentarily silent at his statement.

"Our spar is still a little lacking." Instead of answering, she switched to a different topic. "How about a wager, Archer?"

Shirou sighed inwardly at Rider's stubbornness. But still… he was curious as to what she had planned to wager.

"Ho? So what do you have in mind?" he asked.

Rider relaxed and withdrew from her combat stance to stand straight. "To the victor, a single wish is given. Nothing impossible like a command spell, but just one simple request that the defeated will be honor bound to fulfill."

"Something like that…" Shirou furrowed his eyebrows in thought as he too dropped his guard a little.

He couldn't really think of anything he could ask her of that she wouldn't have done so regardless. Rider was actually quite amiable with him whenever he had asked for help in chores and such. There was just nothing for him in that kind of wager.

"You can ask of me anything and I will answer it if you've won," she said. "The reason why I wished to speak with you alone. However, if you are defeated, then you shall not know of it and be under my request."

"The conditions of the wager seems to weigh heavily in your favor," pointed out Shirou.

"Not at all," said Rider. "You do not have to ask me what my reason is for bringing you here." Shirou was confused by that. "You could tell me to strip for you, and I would do so." Now Shirou was completely taken aback with surprise.

Rider wasn't finished.

"If you wished… then perhaps something else…" she said as her slender fingers trailed on some of her tender curves.

"D-Don't be stupid!" Shirou stammered in embarrassment as he looked away from Rider, a little bit too late as his imagination was in complete overdrive at what he had seen of the Servant. "I would never ask you to do something so selfish and against your will!"

Rider gave him a smile at that. "Truthfully, I know you wouldn't."

Shirou gave a big sigh as he realized that Rider was only teasing him. "Please go easy on me, I already have Rin to deal with when it comes to this type of thing. She also seems to have influenced her sister now." He hadn't expected Sakura to make such bold jokes towards him before. He could only pray that Saber would continue to be so innocent and free from her Master's influence.

"So what say you, Archer? Will you accept my wager?"

"Really…" Shirou could tell that this was part of Rider's plan all along. "If this is how you want things to go, then I won't decline." He looks up seriously at her while flipping his blades at the ready once more. "However, I hope you hadn't planned on winning against me, because I will certainly aim for victory in this match."

"It would be an insult if you did not," said Rider as she too prepared herself.

Silence settled between the two Servants as they watched each other for the first to make a move. Only the sounds of the wind blowing through the trees and the water running through the creak between them were heard in the calm before their inevitable clash.

When a fish splashed away in the creak, as if on cue with that, Rider threw one of her chained spikes at Archer. He deflected it easily with Kanshou as he also used the opportunity to run towards her. His blades momentarily clashed with the chains of her weapon as he tried to press his strength down upon her. The black clad Servant's physical strength was stronger than his, but he had already known that.

No sooner had Rider tried to press back with her strength, Shirou had dismissed his swords, causing her to press forward with too much momentum. He quickly seized the opportunity and kicked her on her side. She was thrown from the impact of his leg to a few feet away from him.

As Rider skidded to a halt, she pulled on her chains that she had somehow wrapped around Shirou's leg that had kicked her. He was almost dragged down to her, if not for summoning back his two blades and impaling them on the ground.

Shirou threw his white sword at her as he still held on to his black sword. The elegant white blade spun towards Rider's neck. It missed as she bent back her head to avoid it, narrowly passing above her face. Her brief movement, however, was enough for Shirou to release himself from the grip of the chain on his leg.

"You really are quick, Rider," said Shirou as he picked himself up from the ground. "Let's see just how quick you are." He traced Kanshou again in his hand, and threw it and Bakuya at his opponent.

Rider easily sidestepped the blades thrown at her. She was about to counterattack, when more of the same blades were thrown at her, keeping her at bay.

She had tried to approach steadily through the barrage of blades, but Shirou kept his distance from her as he continued to rain down on her. The ground shook and cratered from the impact of the blades that she dodged behind her. While dust and debris from those were no problem for someone like her who didn't rely on vision, the real danger was from the blades that still flew from behind that she could tell were about to boomerang back to her.

As soon as she noticed this, Shirou had reversed his direction and engaged her in melee to prevent her from dodging the blades coming at her back.

"It's my win," declared Shirou as his blades pressed against Rider's daggers. "Now will you tell me what's this all about?"

The battle wasn't over yet, but Rider did answer him. "…I want you to take me out on a date."

"…What?"

Rider used Shirou's momentary confusion and used the same trick he had done on her earlier to pull him down to the ground. The blades coming from behind her passed over them as she flipped him over and ended up straddled on top of him with her daggers pointing at his neck.

"It would seem victory belongs to me," she said, her long purple hair flowed down to his chest.

Shirou could not speak for the moment. He didn't know if it was due to the shock of losing or at the statement Rider had said earlier. "…Rider… is that true?"

Rider made no motion to leave her position. "Yes…" she simply answered.

Shirou looked troubled by this. "But Sakura-,"

"My Master has given me her blessing to do as I wish," she said to him.

What she didn't tell him was that her Master seemed to have been actually delighted by that when it came to light. Sakura had asked her one evening when they were alone together doing some chores. Her Master had bluntly asked her if she felt anything at all for Shirou.

Rider had wanted to say no, but her Master had stared her directly in the eyes, intent on seeking out the truth from her. When she had told her that there might have been some feelings for him that she did not understand completely as of yet, Sakura wholeheartedly told her that she'd be really happy to share Shirou with her.

"Sakura did…?" Shirou did not understand what his lover was thinking of doing so.

"Of course, if you are entirely against it, I won't force you to."

Shirou could sense that there was a little sadness in Rider's voice. While he had always thought Sakura to be the love of his life, he had always found Rider to be beautiful beyond compare whenever he saw her. But part of her strange beauty was the way she had seem to isolate herself from everyone else sometimes, as if looking back to her past.

"…I think I'd like the idea of getting to know you more, Rider." He said so, much to the surprise of the woman on top of him. "A win's a win, right? The defeated should not make complaints of the victor."

Rider smiled.

"We should probably head back now," she said as she picked herself up off of him. "The customers should start picking up soon." She held out a hand to Shirou, which he gladly took.

Shirou figured this is the reason why Sakura had readily agreed to cover for them until they returned for lunch hour.

"So where would you like me to take you?" he asked.

"Aren't you the one taking me out on a date?" Rider said with a playful smile before turning her back to him. "I hope you have a good place in mind." With that statement, she sped away.

Shirou scratched his head in mild frustration. "It's not like I'm an expert on dating women. I can barely understand what's going on in their mind as is." The women in his life seem to have nothing short of surprises for him at every corner.

* * *

"I've returned." Medusa greeted Sakura in the kitchen as she entered.

She had expected to be barraged by series of inquiries from her Master about how her talk with Shirou went, but there appears to have been something else on Sakura's mind, based on the slightly concerned look she had on as she looked up from cooking at Medusa's arrival.

"Did something happen?" asked Medusa.

"…There might be," said Sakura unsurely. "Ms. Belladona arrived and seems to be looking for you."

Medusa didn't see how this was a cause for concern though. "I shall go ahead and see her. Please excuse me until then." Sakura didn't seem to mind.

While Medusa didn't understand why her Master seemed so concerned, she was more enthusiastic about meeting her friend. After all, it was Blake who had encouraged her to speak out her mind and ask Shirou out on a date.

Sakura had indeed given her blessings in regards to her feelings for Shirou, but she had still been unsure on how to approach the matter with him. It was during one of her occasional small book discussions with Blake that the cat faunus had insisted she ask him out on a date.

Well… not in the way she had asked, but still… a win's a win as Shirou had said.

Immediately Medusa realized something was amiss. "…Blake?"

Blake sat at the corner table of the room, alone and with a dejected appearance. She looked up as her name was called.

"Where's your bow?" asked Medusa with furrowed brow.

"…They saw it…" Blake gave a painful smile at her. "…They saw me." Tears started gathering in her eyes. "I don't know what to do!" she cried into her hands after her tears began to fall.

Medusa moved quickly to comfort her friend. She didn't need to guess what had happened. Her only concern for the moment was easing Blake's pain by giving her a shoulder to cry on.

After crying her eyes out, Blake told Medusa exactly what had happened.

Having her secret be outed in the open for all her friends to see… it was just too sudden for her. She couldn't stand to look at the faces of what they had just discovered about her, so she ran. The fear that had built up about hiding herself for so long had rushed out all in that one moment on that stage.

They knew she was a faunus.

She had hid that fact from them for all this time they've known each other, and there was still a dark secret they still didn't know about her.

What would happen if they found out she used to be part of the White Fang?

"I can't go back…" she whispered quietely with her head on her friend's shoulder.

Medusa wanted to encourage Blake that her friends would most likely be alright with her, but the faunus seemed to distraught right now to even consider that, it would seem.

She nodded in understanding and gave an encouraging smile at Blake.

Later, after business hours were over, Medusa had called for everyone but the faunus staff to meet up with her in the kitchen.

"So what's this about, Medusa?" asked Rin as she leaned back on the kitchen table. "I have to say that you're the last person I would think of to call all of us for a meeting." That fact alone seems to have lit her curiosity.

Illya was sitting down and munching on some leftover desserts on the table. "That is true," she agreed with crumbles on the side of her mouth. "As far as Servants go in the war, only Berserker would outrank you in how quiet and obedient you are."

"Has there been any _problems_?" Shirou asked as he wiped away the crumbs from his sister's mouth.

Medusa shook her head at that, aware of what he meant by it. "This has no relation with the authorities, or discovery of our secrets," she said.

"It still seems to be a serious matter if you've called for this meeting yourself," pointed out Saber. She was still wearing the short skirt maid outfit version of what the staff normally wore, since the shop had just closed.

"Yes," admitted the purple haired maid. "I would like to make a request." Everyone pricked their ears for what she would say. "I would like to request that we give a room to Ms. Belladona temporarily at the manor."

There was some surprise among everyone at that. All except Sakura, who had been meekly quiet to Medusa's side. She seems to have already understood her Servant's intentions after she had spoken to her about Blake's situation.

"You know we can't simply do that," Rin declared with a fixed a glare at her. "We would be putting our entire work at risk here."

"Which is why I had come to ask everyone about it," said Rider as she remained cool under the pressure of Rin's glare.

"It's not like we would be performing our magecraft right in front of her, Neesan." Sakura also pleaded on Medusa's side. "We've place everything important under lock and key so she would never find anything out while she stays with us. There is little chance that she would discover our secrets."

Rin frowned. "A little chance is still a chance."

"Then how about we put it to a vote?" her sister offered. "We'll go with majority rules."

Rin thought long about it before nodding her head in response. "I'll consider a tie a win for us against it still," she spoke resolutely.

Neither Medusa, nor Sakura complained about that condition, since they were asking for a lot.

It did not need to be said that both Master and Servant were for it, so Sakura looked to the next person to ask their opinion.

"It's fine, isn't it?" said Illya. "She's a good girl after all."

Although Illya was all for it, her intentions weren't so pure as helping out a friend. Not entirely, at least. She still hasn't found anyone else willing to act as her models for her hobby. The faunus workers were too busy with their jobs, same goes for everyone else. Also, even if they did have time, they went out of their way to avoid her whenever she came running out with her latest creations.

Having a guest could change that. A cat faunus to boot too.

"Rin has a point, Rider," said Shirou. "While I'm glad you're willing to help out a friend, we can't put ourselves in danger in doing so."

That was a point against.

Saber also sided with her Master on this.

"That's three for three," said Rin. "It's our side's win." She didn't gloat since she did feel a little bad for turning down a rare request from Medusa.

"Shirou," spoke Medusa. "That promise from earlier, please allow me to change that."

"Promise…?" Rin queried. "What promise?" She looked at the white-haired Servant for an explanation.

"You'll go that far for a friend, huh?" Shirou sighed and stared back seriously at Medusa. "I've changed my mind. Ms. Belladona can stay with us."

"Hey, wait a minute!" adamantly protested Rin. "You can't just-!"

"And with that we have four votes against two!" happily cheered Sakura.

"No, that's not-!"

Illya cheered as well. "Yay! I've got just the jammies planned for her!"

"Thank you, Shirou." Medusa was very grateful to him.

Seeing the Servant gave her wholehearted thanks had just completely deflated Rin's opposition.

"Give it up, Rin," said Saber to her Master. "It seems the matter has already been decided." She handed her a cup of warm tea.

Rin sighed and quietely accepted the tea along with her defeat.

"This better not blow up in our faces…"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **So my updating speed has slowed for a bit. Not for a lack of ideas, but mostly due to a lack of time. I guess same things that will inevitably happen to all writers here.**

 **Although my reasons are much more mundane now than at the beginning...**

 **I am level 243 Pyro 3 Sorc 3 in Tree of Savior. With a lvl 132 QS 3 Sapper 1, lvl 134 Archer 3 QS 2, and a lvl 43 Swordsman 2 Hoplite 1**

 **My gaming habits aside, I still plan on finishing this fic someday. If I ever discontinue this fic or writing at all, I will post it on my profile. I won't just leave without explanation for longer than 3 months, probably. That is unless I die, or become seriously injured and hospitalized.**

 **As always, please read and review.** **It will help me if you can point out some mistakes in spelling, grammar and inconsistencies as well. Please do try to make constructive criticism rather than blatant dislike.**

 **P.S.**

 **Again, I can't reply to people who do not have accounts here (This is mostly information just in case for that italian guy from my other fic). I also can't answer every single one sometimes. I've left too many unanswered for too long and answering them now will just be a bit too late. If you really needed me to answer something, just shoot me a PM.**


	23. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

 ***Fresh post. May have more than few mistakes here and there. May update with corrections in several days or so... probably.**

* * *

"Thank you again for allowing me to stay here."

Blake couldn't help but say so again towards the person guiding her around the manor. She knew that she may have caused them some inconvenience for her sudden stay here, even though Medusa had reassured her that it did not trouble them at all.

"Of course! Housing a friend of Medusa's is no problem at all for us. Please, make yourself comfortable during your stay here," said Rin with a bright smile.

There wasn't much Blake knew about the girl guiding her besides her name, since she only ever knew her as one of the maids and cooks at the café. Rin was, in every way, perfect in her eyes. From the way she moved to the way she spoke. She could not find any fault with the way the twin-tailed girl treated anyone, even now. She was very welcoming towards her.

And yet…

She glanced to her side to see a familiar little girl by her side.

Illya was staring at Rin with disbelief and mild apprehension in her eyes. She had been doing this every time the girl had smiled and said warm welcoming words towards Blake.

"Uhm… Illya?" she said, catching the attention of her small friend. "Is there something wrong?"

"Of course not," said Illya warmly at her, her eyes were back to its usual bright cheer.

Blake figured that her mental state fom earlier must be causing her some confusion.

Everyone here had been very welcoming of her arrival, especially Illya for some reason. It was nice to see someone so happy to see her, and at the same time… feels somehow… bad?

"What about you, Blake? Are you okay?" Illya asked concernedly.

Blake's current thoughts were washed away as she remembered just why she was here in the first place.

"I'm… fine," she answered unsurely. "I think I'll be fine. I just need some alone time to think things through, I guess."

"Listen, if there is anything at all you need while you're here, just ask."

Blake was touched by the kind offer.

"Yes, yes. You are very welcome to stay here for as long as you'd like," added Rin with her same perfect smile. "It's nice having a guest around this huge manor. It certainly adds some bit of excitement to our lives."

Again, Blake noticed Illya's eyes change briefly as she looked at Rin. It was gone the moment the little girl noticed she was looking at her.

A bit odd. But then again, she felt much the same about the entire place.

Just as Rin said, there were certainly a lot of rooms that Blake had noticed as they toured all over the place. Most, she was told, were locked due to them still undergoing renovation, since they had only bought the place in recent months. Those rooms were said to be a mess still, so it was best to just close them off for now.

"I'm surprised to see that your entire staff lives here," commented Blake as she remembered seeing some of the faunus pass them by on their way to work.

"We do provide food and lodgings to all our workers," answered Rin. "As well as care for their everyday needs. I'd like to say that we provide one of the best benefit packages for any and all employees under our charge."

"That must be really nice."

"They can't complain."

For a moment, Blake was sure Rin's smile had widened a little too maliciously there.

At the end of their tour, they arrived at what was to be her room for the duration of her stay here. Rin and Illya said goodbye for now and left her to rest, which she truly needed after everything that's happened.

Blake fell face down on the soft fluffly bed in her room. Her thoughts were scattered and hazy as she breathed deeply the soft scented linen of her bed.

She turned face up towards the ceiling. "What am I going to do…" she muttered to herself.

In the hallway, some distance away from where she stayed, Rin and Illya were talking.

"For someone who was so against this, you sure were very welcoming," said Illya.

"Of course I need to act that way," said Rin haughtily. "I am a magus after all. There would be no point to all of this if it breeds her suspicion if we treated her poorly. We need to make sure she doesn't suspect us of anything that could blow our covers. And showing her the illusion that we are open to anything, our secrets will be all the more safer."

Illya nodded in understanding. "Let her believe we have nothing to hide, and she won't try to pry. Clever."

"I really hope she doesn't stay too long though. Our Dust experiments will take some time until the results are finished, and I still want our operations to continue quickly once they are done."

"You worry too much, Rin." Illya was a lot more upbeat about the whole thing. "If anything, this is a good chance to take a break and have fun."

Rin looked back at the tiny magus. "You just want to dress her up, don't you?"

"Ehehe, yeah!"

In Blake's room, the occupant pulled up her sheets as a small chill ran up her spine.

* * *

Ruby sighs as she stirs the contents of her breakfast half-heartedly.

"Still no luck finding Blake?"

She looks up to see Jaune and the rest of his team take their seats in front of her.

They were at the school cafeteria, which was only sparsely populated by students because most were back home with their families for the semester break. There were still more than a few students left, including most of the visiting students from the other academies, but most preferred eating outside the school grounds to enjoy the city while they can.

"No…" said Ruby.

Blake had been gone for two days since they last saw her. Ruby and Yang had searched high and low for her, but could not catch a clue as to where she went.

"And Weiss?" asked Pyrrha.

"Still mad."

Her partner refused to go out with them in search of her, and had been going off by herself someplace else. She had tried to plead with her, but she was being truly stubborn.

"Well that sucks," said Jaune.

Ruby nodded. "Yup."

"You look really tired, Ruby," pointed out Ren. "Are you sure you don't want us to help finding Blake?"

"No, No!" Ruby was suddenly up and alert. "Me and Yang have got this. No need for you guys to do anything." She was quite insistent about it. "We are A-Okay!"

 ***Thud***

Yang had taken the seat beside Ruby and had dropped her forehead directly on the table.

"I am not okay…" grumbled her sister tiredly.

"Uhhh… you're not dead yet, are you, Yang?" Nora poked the hair of the yellow-haired fighter with concern.

"…What?"

"Gaahh!" Nora backed off as she saw Yang pick her head off the table to face her. "Holy Griffballs! What happened to you?!"

Team JNPR and Ruby could see the tired eyebags that formed around the normally bright and energetic Yang. You could tell that this girl was about ready to pass out by the bloodshot in her eyes.

"Go to sleep, Yang," worried Ruby. "I told you it might take us a while to find her…"

"And I told you that I can find her before it's time for me to go to bed!" Yang snorted in defiance. "I haven't gone to bed yet and I'll find her soon enough!" She stuck out her chest proudly.

"You… you haven't slept since Blake disappeared?" asked Jaune, more than a little concerned. "But hasn't she been gone for two days now?"

With another loud thud, Yang faceplanted once more onto the table. "…Has it been that long already?" she mumbled tiredly.

"Uuugh! Blake, where are yooou?!" In apparent rage, Yang stood up and shouted loudly, catching everyone in the cafeteria's attention. "Show yourself before I start breaking all your hiding places!" Her bloodshot eyes flared red as she started cracking her knuckles, ready to make good on her promise.

Ruby tried to calm her sister down in a little panic. "Yang, please! I told you that you can sleep!"

"And I will!" answered back Yang. "As soon as I find Blake after smashing every pla—"

 ***Thud***

Once more, Yang faceplanted onto the table. But this time, she was out like a light.

Ren stood behind her, who had knocked her out with a chop to the back of the neck.

"Sorry," he said. "I think its best if we escort your sister back to your dorm."

Ruby nodded before Ren and Nora took custody of the now peacefully sleeping beauty.

Pyrrha turned to her. "So what was it you said again about not needing any help?"

"Ahahaha…" Ruby laughed weakly to herself before letting out another sigh. "I'm sorry, Pyrrha. It's just that I kind of wanted Blake to talk to us first. You know, tell us why she had been keeping us in the dark about her being a faunus."

"I can understand that," said Pyrrha. "But you have to know that we're Blake's friends too. We want to see her again just as much as you do."

"You're right…" sighed Ruby.

"Hey, if it means that much to you, we can just call you guys when we find her," offered Jaune. "You guys can talk it out then, once we actually know where she is."

Ruby smiled at that.

"Thanks! We'd really appreciate it!"

It would be perfect if she could get Weiss to go with them once they did find their lost kitten, but that seems entirely unrealistic right now.

"I really hope Blake's okay though," she said.

"I'm sure she's perfectly fine," reassured Pyrrha. "She's big girl. She can take care of herself."

* * *

Blake moaned in total bliss as the soft and rich tuna melted in her mouth.

"This is so good!" she commented before taking another mouthful of her dish.

Off to her side, Shirou laid down her dessert, a small slice of heavenly cheesecake.

"I'm glad you like it," he said. "If you want more, I can always whip up another batch."

"Oh no. You've already made so much. I can't trouble you for anything more."

Shirou smiled at her. "I assure you its no trouble at all. After all, I'm still making a few more dishes for your friend here." He looked at the woman who sat opposite of Blake, who had several empty plates stacked on the side of her table. "Medusa is still waiting on a few more dishes to finish."

Blake was surprised to find that Medusa could eat so much. This was a side of her that she had never known before. She didn't really see her eat at the café because the purple haired beauty was always busy working, but who knew that she could pack in so much food in little, but fast and furios, bites. She had always thought that Medusa was part of the healthy eating crowd, considering how lithe she was.

She could easily tell because of the casual clothes her friend currently wore. A pair skin fit jeans and a black long sleeved turtleneck certainly brought out her sex appeal. There was just that vibe of a sexy mature woman that even Yang couldn't pull off.

Shirou left the two of them alone together at the dining table as he headed back to the kitchen, presumably to finish cooking the other dishes.

"Are you sure you wouldn't care for seconds, Blake." Medusa asked after she had finished off her second dessert.

"It's really all so delicious," said Blake. "But I really can't eat anymore than this."

She already felt she was imposing too much on her hosts for her stay there. Although, that feeling kept getting washed away everytime during breakfast, lunch, and dinner… also snack time.

"So…" Blake spoke in a seemingly casual manner. "What did he say when you asked him out?"

 ***Cough* *Cough***

Rider gulped down her glass of water, after nearly choking on a piece of chicken.

"Wh-whatever do you mean?" she asked.

"Don't give me that." Blake had a sly look in her eyes. "We were talking about it only a few days ago after all. You don't get to tell me that you haven't done a thing since then."

With her cheeks slightly reddened, Medusa avoided looking at her friend. "…I did manage to request a date from him to which he agreed to," she admitted, much to her friend's enjoyment. "…But I'm afraid that is-"

"Hey, Medusa." Shirou cut her off as he came back to deliver another dish. "I forgot to tell you, but I've already found a place that I think you'll enjoy."

"Eh?"

Shirou sighed and then smiled at her. "You told me that, since I'm the one taking you out on a date, that I should be the one to think of a place to take you to, right?"

"But that was-"

Shirou didn't bother staying long with them, as he still needed to get back to his dishes. "Hey, a win is a win. That was the promise I agreed to, and nothing else."

"...Yes." Medusa watched him go, a happy smile blooming on her face as she did so.

"Things seem to be going really well for you," said Blake with a knowing smirk. "What did he mean by you winning though?"

"Just a simple match between us," said Medusa. "One where I ended up on top of him."

It was Blake's turn to turn red in the face. The conclusions she mostly likely thought of may be a little too far from the truth as she imagined how a woman would end up in such a position.

Such thoughts were not left unnoticed.

"What's wrong?" Medusa asked in feigned ignorance. "We are adults after all. That shouldn't come as much of a surpise." With a playful smile on her face, she asked, "Would you like me to tell you all the details?"

"That's not necessary!" Blake shook her head vigorously.

"It was such a thrilling experience though." Medusa continued on. "The way our bodies moved in sync together… every time we clashed, it sent my heart racing, thinking of just how close he was." Blake gulped at this. "The way he pressed himself against me and cornered me with all his strength was magnificent. He was so rough, I think he may have left me a few bruises." Her head came closer to her friend, and she whispered seductively. "…Would you care to see them?"

Blake blubbered, unable to properly speak. Her head seemingly so red, it looked it was boiling.

"I'm only teasing you, Blake," giggled Medusa.

"Geez." Blake pouted. "I should've known it sounded too good to be true." It did sound a lot like something she would read though.

Medusa still had a playful grin on her face. "I didn't say it wasn't."

"Oh, come on! You can't toy with my emotions like this!"

The two continued to enjoy their morning together until it was time for Medusa and Shirou to leave for their shift at the café, leaving Blake all alone in the manor.

"Hehehe…" A bubbly giggle came from behind Blake after seeing Medusa off at the door.

"Eep!" Blake turned around and saw Illya half hiding behind the corner, looking at her with a smirk. "Oh, Illya. It's just you." She sighed in relief. "You scared me there for a second."

Illya came out of the corner, smiling at Blake. "There's no need to feel scared, Blake." Those words had the opposite effect, as somehow the cat faunus felt somewhat fearful instead. "We're friends too, aren't we?"

"Y-Yeah, of course we are." Blake couldn't help but take a step back though.

Illya giggled. "So how do you like living at our home?"

"Oh, well… it's great. Everyone here is so nice, and the food is just absolutely amazing." She said all of this, but then frowned a bit. "…I just feel a little bad that I'm not doing anything to earn my keep here."

"You don't really have to though. You are our guest here after all."

Blake wasn't really content with that. "Yes, but It's still hard not to feel that way."

"Well…" Illya a finger on her lips as she appeared to think about it. "There is a little something I could use your help with."

"Really?"

Illya just shook her head. "On second thought, it's probably something I couldn't ask you to do. As I said, you are our guest here. Making you do something like that would be too rude." After saying so with a sigh, she turned around to leave.

"No, no. Please let me help you." Blake looked completely serious. "I can't just sit around reading all day again. You'd actually be doing me a favor by letting me."

"…Are you sure?"

Blake nodded. "Positive."

Since Illya was still facing away from the cat faunus, Blake couldn't see the malicious grin the little girl had on.

"Well then…" Illya turned around, showing only her innocent and pleasant smile to her prey. "Why don't we start by going into my room," said the spider to the fly. "I've got a lot of things I could use your help with."

* * *

Medusa arrived upstairs of the café to clean the tables when she noticed someone sitting alone at the corner table. She didn't remember seeing the customer come in, so it must have been before her shift started, but that was some time ago.

She approached the customer.

"Would you care to order for something else?"

"Huh?" Weiss Schnee was shaken out of her deep thoughts at the sudden question.

Medusa clarified. "It would seem that you aren't satisfied with your current order."

"Oh," Weiss looked down at the already cold and barely eaten breakfast left on the table, as if noticing it for the first time. "I'm sorry, I'm sure it was very good."

"It doesn't seem to be that way if you've ignored it for so long," pointed out Medusa.

"It's not the food," sighed Weiss. "I just don't seem to have any appetite today. Don't worry about it. I'll pay for it and be sure to leave a big tip for staying so long."

"I see…" answered Medusa. "If that is the case then I will leave you to your thoughts."

"Wait!"

Before Medusa could leave, Weiss had grabbed her by the arm

"Sorry." Weiss let go and apologized after realizing what she did was rude.

"Is there something else you needed?" Medusa asked, not bothered at all.

Weiss was reluctant but asked, "I was wondering if you've seen any of my teammates drop by here in the last two days. It could be anyone of them at all."

Medusa stared for a while before answering, "I am sorry, but I have not seen any of your usual companions here during that time."

"But you're friends with Blake, right?! How could you have not seen her?!"

Weiss' hand covered her mouth as she spoke louder than she had intended. She had also apparently stood up from her seat. She was about to apologize once more to Medusa for her behavior when she noticed that the maid was looking elsewhere.

"It would seem one of your companions have arrived," said Medusa. "I will take my leave for now. If you would like to order anything else, please do not hesitate to ask." She left quickly, nodding in greeting as she passed by Weiss' teammate on her way back to the kitchen.

"Hey there, Weiss…" Ruby made an awkward wave at her surprised partner. "So this is where you where, huh?" She took the seat next to her partner, who just sat quietly pretending to ignore her. "You know you had us worried for a while there. I really wasn't sure if you were gonna disappear on us too."

Weiss slammed her hands on the table. "I'm not like Blake, you know! I'm not going to run away!" she adamantly said. "There is nothing I need to run away from!"

"Okay, Okay, Weiss!" said Ruby. "Let's just calm down…"

The Schnee heiress sat down glumly. "I'm not guilty of anything…" she whispered softly, her hand clenched tightly on her dress.

"Weiss." Ruby gently held her partner's clenched hand. "I'm your friend, right?" she asked, to which Weiss nodded silently. "Then you know you can trust me. You can tell me anything at all, and I will still be your friend. Same goes for Blake, once we actually find her and hear her out. I know you want to see her just as much as the rest of us do."

Weiss held firmly on Ruby's soft hand. She still looked a bit troubled, but her expression did soften a little after Ruby's comforting words.

"…They were right, you know?" said Weiss.

"Right about what?"

"Right about how differently I would have treated Blake if I knew she had been a faunus in the beginning." The Ice Queen's eyes grew a little dull as she stares at the ceiling with a sad smile. "I've tried telling myself that I wouldn't have… but they were right. I would only be lying to myself again if I did. It wouldn't be surprising if I made her quit the team."

"I'm sure you wouldn't have been that bad," encouraged Ruby.

Weiss raised her eyebrow at her. "And what did _you_ think of me when we first met?"

"…Okay. Point taken."

"Right," nodded Weiss. "I wasn't exactly the easiest person to get along with, even if you weren't a faunus. I suppose growing up under the shadow of my father's company made it harder on me. It didn't help that the White Fang always made it so difficult for my family whenever they struck at our company."

"I guess that's why you don't trust faunus, huh?" said Ruby.

"It's not that I don't trust them," denied Weiss with a huff. "But yes, I don't really trust them because of that."

"Uh-huh." Ruby sighed inwardly.

"You know, I'm aware of our company's mistreatment of some of our faunus staff?" she said much to Ruby's surprise. "Everything Blake said was true… but I wanted to change all that. Change how people think of my family's company, for the better. But how can I do that when I couldn't even change myself?"

She remembered exactly what she thought of when she made the maid here cry. How it wasn't her fault to begin with. How it was all the White Fang's fault. How she had never thought she was really wrong.

Weiss continued, "I'm not even really sure if I'm mad at Blake anymore or just mad at myself." Her tone quivers. "I'm just… confused."

"Hey," Ruby leans close to her partner and looks her in the eyes, her silver ones staring straight onto bright blues. "When you were asking that maid a while ago, what was it that you wanted to do?"

Weiss wanted to look away, but those deep silver eyes held her still. "I wanted… I wanted to find Blake."

"Why?"

"I… I want to make things right again." Her eyes were a little moist as she said so. "Right with myself and right with Blake. I just want things to go back to the same time as before…" She started to cry. "When we we're all still friends."

Ruby grabbed Weiss into a hug. "We are still friends," she said soothingly. "That hasn't changed. Only the fact that Blake has kitty ears –which totally explains why she likes tuna a lot." Ruby coughed lightly as she realized she got off track, and held Weiss at arms length. "Anyway, if you want to change, you can. After all, people do change as we move forward. You don't have to do it all at once, or all alone. Just take it a little at a time, like when we first became a team."

For the first time in a while, Weiss truly smiled. "I guess you're right. Except I hope things don't change too much." She wiped away her tears with her handkerchief. "I don't want us to change being friends."

"We could always be more than friends," suggested Ruby.

"Uhhhh…." Weiss had her mouth slightly agape, speechless of what to say to that.

"You know, be bestest friends!" The little red hood said with a bright smile.

"R-Right!" Weiss stuttered nervously with a chuckle. "Be _very_ good friends! _Really_ good friends! _Best_ friends! _Just_ friends!"

"Yup!" nodded Ruby. "Now all we have to do is find out where Blake is!"

Two cups of hot coco was laid down in front of both girls. Medusa stood to the side of their table as she waited on them.

"Uhm... I didn't order this," said Weiss.

"I was told that a warm drink helps soothes one's thoughts," said Medusa. "This is on the house, as they say."

Weiss found that very thoughtful. "Thank you."

"Yeah! Thanks!" Ruby said enthusiastically before taking an eager sip. "Ow! Ow! Too hot! Too hot still! I shoulda blown on it first!"

Medusa still didn't leave their side though.

"Is there something else?" inquired Weiss.

The maid was silent for a moment before answering, "…If you wish to see Blake then I could take you to where she is."

"What?! I thought you said you haven't seen her!" said Weiss incredulously.

"You only asked if I've seen her here, which I have not," answered Medusa.

"But you still knew all this time where she was?!" Weiss looked a little mad at that, but she shook it off quickly. "No, nevermind that. You said you can take us to where she is?" she asked seriously to which the maid nodded an affirmative.

"Oh! I gotta call Yang!" Ruby called her sister on her scroll but no one answered. "Fudge! She's probably still asleep at the dorms. I'll go and get her quickly," she said to Weiss. "Be right back! Don't go without us!"

In the blink of an eye, Ruby was gone. She most likely was now racing down the street outside the café at dangerous speeds.

Weiss was left at the table, looking at the palm of her hand where Ruby held her. "Just friends…"

Even though she should feel really happy about that, she found herself a little confused why she felt slightly… disappointed.

"Would you like me to box your meal before they return?"

Weiss quickly hid her hand behind her back as she realized the maid was still standing beside her. "Y-Yes, please! I'll take it all to go!"

She gulped as Medusa seem to pierce her with those mysterious eyes of hers, examining her closely.

"Very well." Medusa bowed and left to get the boxes.

Weiss sighed in relief. "What am I getting so nervous for?" she laughed a little at herself.

In just a little while longer, she and the others would meet with their missing comrade.

"I hope you're okay, Blake…"

* * *

"Blaaaake, I've got the rest of the outfits ready!" Illya shouted happily into Blake's room. "Huh… she's not here. Maybe she went to get something to eat at the kitchen." The little homunculus carried with her several elaborate outfits. "We still haven't gone throught my uniform collection yet too." She let out a small giggle. "I can't wait to see her in this nurse's uniform."

The little girl left the room with a sinister smile, unaware of the eyes that watched her from the small opening of the closet.

"…That was close," whispered Blake in relief. She wiped the cold sweat from her brow. "I know I agreed to it, but this is just getting a little out of hand."

The escaped feline had spent hours wearing outfit after outfit that Illya came out with. It would have been fine if that was it, but somehow, she was persuaded into making various embarrassing poses as Illya took pictures for "future references" she said.

She had finally had enough and escaped out of the little girl's room when Illya was busy looking for that nurse's uniform.

Blake could hear the tiny pitter patter of Illya's footsteps coming from the floor below her.

"She'll find me sooner or later if I stay in this house," she said to herself. "I have to get away. Maybe I can hang out at the café until everyone else comes back here." Her other hosts would probably put a stop to Illya's machinations.

Blake left her room and quietly sneaked passed down the hallway towards the stairs. She stopped suddenly in the middle though.

"Huh?" Her nose twitched a little as there was a scent she faintly recognized. "This cologne… where have I smelled it before?" She looked towards the closed door of one of the many rooms that Rin had told her belonged to their staff. Closer, she took a careful whiff at the scent coming from it. "Why does this seem so familiar?"

"Blake?" Illya's voice came from the direction of the stairs.

"Uh-oh!" Blake looked around the hallway for a place to hide. She tried opening the room in front of her, but it was locked. "Got to find someplace to hide!" She panicked as the small footsteps came closer and closer.

Soon, Illya arrived upstairs to find that… it was empty.

"Hmmm…" she frowned. "Maybe she went back to my room."

The little girl left.

A shadow landed quietly onto the carpeted floor from the ceiling it had clung to.

"Time for me to go," said Blake.

Quickly and quietly, the faunus went down the stairs towards the front doors. Sweet freedom was within her grasp as she reached out for the doorknob.

But just before she reached it, the door opened.

"…"

"…"

Standing in front of her with shocked faces were her teammates and Medusa.

The girls all stood stock still at the encounter, as if time itself was frozen in place. Blake's mind was confused by the appearance of her team here, while her teammates were similarly surprised by Blake's own appearance.

"…What on Remnant are you wearing?" said Weiss, breaking the silence.

Blake looked down at herself, and realized that she had forgotten to change out of the latest outfit Illya had made her model, a gothic lolita style black and red dress, complete with extra frilly laces and matching steel-toed combat boots.

"Uhm… I can explain," Blake answered lamely.

"You had better," scowled Weiss at her. Out of her pocket, she took out a familiar black ribbon and held it out. "But this time… we'll be here to listen to all of it." Blake widened her eyes at this.

She could tell her teammate wasn't happy with her, but she was a lot less… angry than she thought she would be. Frankly, she thought it wouldn't be strange for Weiss to consider never speaking to her again.

"It would be great if you can talk to us about it," smiled Ruby.

"Come on," said Yang. "I bet it's a pretty good story."

"Everyone…" Blake began to tear up a little.

"Why don't you all go inside and discuss this there while I go get some snacks and tea." Blake saw Medusa standing to the side holding the door. "It would be a nice way to talk amongst friends, yes?" she gave an encouraging smile towards her.

"Yeah… that would be nice."

* * *

Blake and her teammates stood outside the gates of the manor she stayed at for two days. "Thank you again for everything," she said gratefully towards the people seeing her go.

"Oh, think nothing of it," Rin said with a pleasant smile. "It was nice having a guest around. If you ever feel the need to drop by again, we will always be sure to welcome you."

"That's really kind of you," said Blake. "But I wouldn't want to trouble you-"

Illyasviel rushed out from behind Rin and hugged Ruby. "That's right! You can come visit us anytime too, Ruby." Rin's smile twitched at this. "I could always use someone's help. Plus, you could eat all the cookies you want."

Ruby began to drool a little at the idea. "Really?!"

Blake quickly grabbed a hold of Ruby while Rin took Illya and covered her mouth with her hand.

"Hahaha! It's getting a bit late. You should probably start heading back before it gets too dark," laughed Rin, as she quickly passed the struggling little girl in her arms to Saber.

"Y-Yeah, we should really get going," agreed Blake.

She thanked each and every one of her hosts. As she walked back with her teammates, she looked back to give a wave and a smile at Medusa, who also returned the action.

When Rin was sure that Team RWBY was out of earshot, she turned around and glared angrily at Illya. "What did you think were you doing?" she demanded.

"I didn't have enough time to take pictures of all the outfits yet," grumbled Illya.

"You seemed to have taken enough while we were away," said Rin coldly. "Should I tell Shirou and Sakura exactly how well you've treated a guest of ours?"

"Ugh…" Illya backed off at the thought of it. "O-Okay, I got it." That was not something she was willing to deal with. "I guess I'll have to settle for these." She smiled happily as she took out some photos from her pocket. "Eh…?"

"What is it, Illya?" asked Saber to the little girl in her arms.

Illyasviel frowned as she counted the photos in her hand. "It looks like I'm missing one. I must have dropped it somewhere while I was looking for Blake," she sighed. "That was the best one too."

Saber carried Illya under her arms towards their home with Rin and Rider. "I suppose it will appear once more, sooner or later."

"Yeah, I guess so…"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **So I think that's enough setup and character development for Team RWBY for now. I am considering skipping the semester break, and just moving on to the second season of RWBY for the Fate cast at the school. That would mean I may have to also skip out on Rider and Shirou's date though.**

 **I'll be thinking about it.**

 **As always, please read and review.** **It will help me if you can point out some mistakes in spelling, grammar and inconsistencies as well. Please do try to make constructive criticism rather than blatant dislike.**


	24. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 ***May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.**

 ***Fresh post. May have more than few mistakes here and there. May update with corrections in several days or so... probably.**

* * *

"This here to our right is the staff break room. You are welcome to use it anytime you prefer during your break."

Glynda Goodwitch was busy showing the new staff some of the important locations of Beacon Academy. She was professional and strict with her decorum, whilst the two being guided by her were silently and attentively listening to her.

"And over here, we have—"

"Food fight in the mess hall!" Students were scrambling pass them as they made their way to, what would probably be a mess of a hall by the time they get there.

"Uhm… Professor Goodwitch?" said Rin towards their guide, who had her eyes closed, obviously trying to calm herself down. "Will that not need your attention?"

Letting out a small exhale, Professor Goodwitch answered, "I am sure it's only a small, minor thing caused by one or two students. There should probably be no need for me to—"

 ***BOOM!***

A student came flying through the roof of the building where the mess hall was located. The spectators watched as the yellow comet reached the height of its peak before it began its descent back towards the ground. There came the sound of a second crash, most likely a second hole was made on the roof.

"Grrr!" Professor Glynda Goodwitch tried to appear calm, but the grinding of her teeth could be heard by the two behind her. "As I've shown you all the necessary basic facilities, I believe it is fine for me to end our tour here. I'm sorry for this sudden interruption."

"It is no trouble at all," replied Rin politely. "Short as it was, your guidance was immensely helpful."

"Thank you for understanding," Professor Goodwitch nodded before leaving towards the source of her current headache.

"The students here certainly seems quite a bit more spirited than ours," said Shirou. "I can see why they would need help with repairs for the entire school. It wouldn't be too far off the mark to say that they have plenty of students with Fuji-nee's disposition."

Rin chuckled. "I'm not sure if we should consider that a blessing or a curse."

A loud crash can be heard coming from the mess hall.

"Looks like I'll be a lot busier than I thought I would be," sighed Shirou.

"You're just here to observe, anyway. There should be plenty of opportunity for that. Meanwhile, I'll be browsing through their library collections for any clues regarding to magecraft. The jobs shouldn't be too hard for both us."

Rin would later take that statement back after her first day on the job. She didn't know full well the requirements of being a librarian in this world. Her grave mistake was that thinking libraries would only revolve around books. She had not expected that she would need to use a computer for some of her duties.

* * *

"Encountered a bit of a problem, have you?" Shirou smiled as he prepared some tea for the exhausted Rin.

Rin grumbled as she sat down haphazardly in a chair. Master and Servant were both currently in the staff breakroom.

"Ugh! What kind of libraries need to use computers!" complained Rin. "Such things are just a bother to academia!"

Shirou sighed at her as he passed her a cup of tea. "You do know that even our school had already started using those years ago, right?"

Rin frowned as she did remember about that. It didn't really inconvenience her that much back then, since their school library wasn't all that large in the first place.

"Are you sure you're going to be fine, Rin?"

"I'll just have to manage somehow."

Another person soon arrived to join the two.

"Oh? If it isn't Mister Emiya and Miss Tohsaka." Professor Port had entered the breakroom and saw the new staff members. "Do you mind if I join you two?"

In a flash, Rin had her social mask back on. Gone was her tired and lazy appearance just a while ago, replaced by an elegant lady with poise.

"Good morning, Professor," she said. "Please do."

"Would black tea suit you just fine?" said Shirou.

"Ah, yes." The professor took the cup handed to him and took a seat on their table. "So, how goes your first day here?"

"It's going fairly well, thank you for asking," said Rin in a pleasant tone. "Although, it will take us a bit more time to acclimate ourselves here. There is just simply too much to see in a single day."

Professor nodded in understanding. "Yes, that is so. The academy is certainly a large place. I doubt you would see everything, even with several days of just wandering around its grounds." He took a sip of his tea, his moustache bristling in satisfaction after tasting it. "This is finely made," he commented before taking another sip.

"I'm glad you liked it," said Shirou. "Rin does prefer it since it helps calm the nerves."

The three enjoyed their hot tea quietly for a moment.

The approaching heavy clack of footsteps from outside the breakroom had broken the silence, though. In front of the doorway, an irate looking Professor Glynda Goodwitch stood with her eyes closed, appearing to be on the brink of frustration.

"Ozpin is too soft with those children," she mumbled in quite anger to herself, unaware of the occupants of the breakroom. "Honestly, how does he expect them to behave themselves in the future if he keeps letting them off easy like this?"

"You seem to be having quite a stressful day today, Glynda," said Professor Port, catching the woman's attention.

Professor Glynda went slightly red as she had shown an appearance unfit of that of her usual professionalism.

"Why not join us for a cup of tea?" offered Professor Port. "It is quite a relaxing brew, and you certainly look like you could really use one."

"I thank you for the offer and apologize for showing such an unsightly display just now," answered Professor Glynda.

"Please, don't worry about it," said Rin, whilst Shirou passed another cup of tea to their new arrival. "Being affected so much like that, it just shows how dedicated you truly are to your work. I can understand your feelings of frustration well."

"Hmm?" Professor Glynda was a lot more relaxed after taking a sip of her brew. "Although you don't look any older than some of the children here yourself, you seem quite more mature than even most adults." She gave a narrow, sideways glance towards Professor Port as she said so.

"Not at all," said Rin with small shake of her head. "I still consider myself far from a mature adult. There is still far too many things for me to experience to even consider myself as such."

Professor Glynda smiled at that bit of humbleness. "If only we had more students like you, I think my life here would be far less stressful."

"Thank the heavens there's only one," quietly whispered Shirou. "Urgh…!"

Both Professors looked at Shirou, who had a strained smile on his face.

"Is something the matter?" asked Professor Port.

"No, not really." Shirou said, still smiling at them. "My muscles are probably just a bit sore from moving around too much stuff yesterday."

Underneath their table, Rin, who still carried her pleasant smile on her face, was grinding her heel into Shirou's foot.

"My, Shirou, you should really take better care of yourself," said Rin. "You just need to speak politely, and I would be sure to offer to help ease your muscle pains."

Translation: _Better watch what you say about me, or I will break your foot!_

"U-Understood." Shirou nodded vigorously.

"So, Professor Goodwitch," said Rin. "It looks like your students seem to be a handful."

The professor sighed. "I suppose that is one way to look at it. Although, the headmaster would probably use the term youthful instead. They have a way of always finding trouble wherever they go."

"Come now, Glynda," Professor Port chuckled. "The youth should enjoy themselves in our time of peace. Even I had spent some of my youth being a little rapscallion."

"If we could continue to afford doing so, I would probably agree."

Professor Glynda knew well that their peace was being threatened. She did not know how much longer until the curtain drops, leaving the children exposed to the dangers out of their hands.

"Sooner or later, a baby bird will need to learn how to fly by itself," said Shirou seriously. "They can't stay in their nest forever. Someday, your students will walk their own path, and I hope you'll be proud of them as you watch their backs."

Professor Glynda was surprised by this, but smiled. "Yes. My heart will surely be lightened when that time comes. Although, I can't say I won't miss them." She took another sip of her tea, and took a moment to think. "That will still be quite a long time from now, though. There is no need to rush them, so I suppose it's okay to let them stay in their nest a little bit longer."

Professor Port chuckled. "No need for the mother bird to feel lonely just yet."

Professor Glynda scoffed at that remark.

"Say, Professor…" said Shirou. "Would it be alright for me to come watch one of your classes some time?"

"Hmmm…" Professor Glynda considered this. "I don't think there should be a problem with that. Some of our combat classes are held in an indoor arena with plenty of space. It allows for most students from other years and classes to observe and learn from their fellow student's battles. As long as you don't make any interruptions to the class, I think it should be perfectly fine."

"Is that so?" said Shirou. "That is good to know."

"But may I ask why you are interested in it?"

Shirou looked to ponder about it before answering, "I guess it is more of an interest in their weapons than actually seeing the students themselves. They look quite impressive from my point of view."

"Hoho!" Professor Port let out a hearty laugh. "It's true that most people would probably find that fascinating. After all, each weapon is unique for every Huntsman or Huntress, an extension of themselves so to speak. They are as varied as the students that wield them. If you want, I could even show you my own."

"Maybe some other time," Shirou declined. "I don't believe I'll have that much free time to just watch other people work hard. There are more than a few places that I have not gone through yet, and the ones I have are still in need of repairs and cleaning."

"It's nice to see you're serious about your work here," said Professor Glynda. "If you could lessen my workload even by a fraction, I would be glad to thank you for it."

"No thanks would be necessary. I was hired to do the work, after all."

The old and new staff of Beacon Academy spent their break getting themselves well acquainted with one another. They soon returned to their work, once their break was over.

* * *

Inside the Beacon Academy library, Blake was headed towards the reception desk. She was there to borrow a book for her homework from Professor Peach's class. She hadn't expected to see a familiar face turning up to greet her.

"Oh, if it isn't Blake," said Rin after looking up from her paperwork. "It's nice to see you again."

"Miss Rin?" queried Blake in a little surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Rin smiled at the cat faunus. "I told you that calling me just Rin is fine. As for the reason why I'm here, I've just recently started as a part-time assistant librarian here."

"Is that so?" said Blake. "That's nice."

"Yes. I hope to get along well with you once more, and the rest of the people here in Beacon," said Rin.

"Sure thing," answered Blake. "I'm sure you'll be very welcome here."

After shuffling away her paperwork, Rin asked, "So, what may I help you with?"

"I was wondering if you could look up where _A History of Grimm and Geography_ is? I need it for some research."

"That one should be in the third shelf down from the entrance, lower right corner between History and Geography section. It should be in alphabetical order, so you shouldn't have any problem finding it."

"Thanks!" Blake nodded, before furrowing her brown in thought. She just noticed that Rin hadn't used the terminal at all to find the book's location. "Have you read it before?"

"It's on my reading list. It looked like it might be interesting, so I made a mental note of it," answered Rin. She couldn't say that she gave up on using the terminal and just memorized most of the general books locations instead. She had surmised that it would take too long to learn how to use the damned thing than just memorizing the locations. It helped immensely that the organization system would allow her to just memorize the names and genres of the books to locate them more easily.

"Thank you," said Blake. "I might come back to check it out if I don't finish it in time."

"Please, take your time."

As soon as Blake was gone, Rin returned to her stack of paperwork once more.

"…This is definitely going to take me some time to go through," Rin mumbled to herself as she looked over the list of materials regarding anything to do with dust, grimm, and magic. She sighed. "Not to mention, I still have to figure out how to use this cursed machine for checking out books."

She never figured it out before Blake returned with her book. The faunus had to walk Rin step by step on how to do it, even going so far as repeating it three more times to the magus.

"No offense, but I'm kind of surprised to see you so bad with this," said Blake. "You just seem like the kind of person that could probably do anything."

"We all have our flaws," said Rin, slightly exhausted from her learning experience. "Mine being technology in this case. My family was really old-fashioned. I'm probably the only one who even considered the practicality of having a phone."

"Wow. That sounds pretty inconvenient. Were they still writing letters or something?"

Rin nodded. "Most of the time, yes. But they did have some other means of delivering messages to their contacts aside from that."

"Well, if you ever need any help, I do spend some of my time here in the library," Blake offered. "It's the least I could do to repay your generosity for letting me stay at your home."

"I don't think it was really that much of a big deal, but I'll be glad to accept your offer, nonetheless," Rin answered gladly.

* * *

Several days have passed since the new staff have arrived in Beacon. There hasn't been any problems as of yet with their stay, but some of the students have begun to take notice of them. Particularly the tall and well-built handyman that had been going around in his olive green hat and custodian uniform.

"Don't think I'll let you win!"

"Bring it, sister!"

The female students were quite ferocious in their combat practice today.

"Aren't those two on the same team?" whispered Ruby to Weiss. They were watching the 2 on 2 battle from the sidelines, alongside the rest of their class.

"That guy must be watching again."

It hadn't taken others long to notice that many of the girls were a lot more fired up when their new handyman watched from the top railings of their small arena. He would come by from time to time during combat practice.

"Wow. Sucks to be those two right now," said Sun.

Sun was referring to Dove and Sky from Team CRDL, who were facing off against the duo of Team NDGO. The women had started trying to beat their respective opponents with ardent fervor, as if trying to win the attention of their prince charming. Needless to say, their opponents end up getting thrashed from the overzealous women.

"Uugh…I hate that guy," grumbled Dove before falling unconscious on top of Sky.

"Ha! I got both of them!" proudly stated Nebula.

"No fair! You threw your guy at mine!" protested Octavia.

While the two girls quarreled over their win, Shirou had been carefully watching each and every detail of the battle with intense focus. He noted their movements, their weapons, their so called "Aura," and some of the Semblances that they used.

Huntsmen and Huntress were quite adaptable in the way they fight. Much like the way he fights, almost all of them were easily able to switch from range and close combat, transforming their weapons on the fly to fit each of their attacks. It would certainly be more difficult to fight them if they were physically on par with Servants. He understood that better than most, being statistically weaker than most regular Servants.

He relied mostly on his ability to adapt to any type of combat, using range to snipe enemies before they got too close, engaging them in close combat if it was to his advantage, or even using a combination of both to throw them off balance. Underhanded tactics were never fully off the table with him. All of it was free game, as long as he won the battle in the end.

Lifetimes of killing had warped his already broken self into what ultimately became the Counter Guardian known as EMIYA. He ended the lives of many, saving the lives of countless others. His ideal from the start, betrayed over and over by his own actions.

"Not good," Shirou rubbed his forehead. "That guy really would do just about anything to win. Can't say I don't really understand him better now, though."

"Hey, show's over."

Shifting his focus away from his thoughts, Shirou saw one of the female students walk over to him.

Just as the girl said, he noticed that the class was over and the students were already halfway out of the arena. They were probably going on their break.

She threw a can of juice at him, which he caught with his right hand. He looked at the can before looking up at the student who gave it to him.

"Looked like you were spacing around too much," said Yang Xiao Long with a wide grin. "Thought maybe you could use a drink."

Shirou smiled. "Thanks."

He opened up his can and took a gulp of it. Yang also had one for herself and joined him in leaning on the railings.

"So…" began Yang after a few moments of silence between them. "What did you think?"

"About what?" said Shirou.

"You know, the fights?" said Yang. "The ones you've been staring at so intently every single time you come here."

"I didn't think students would find a custodian so interesting."

Yang smirked at him. "Maybe if half the class didn't think he was such a hottie, then I probably wouldn't have taken a closer look myself."

Shirou sighed internally.

He had thought he was being inconspicuous with his observations. He's going to have to find a way to correct that next time. Rin did tell him that the less attention to themselves, the better.

"So you think I'm a hottie too?" Shirou returned the smirk. "Is that why I get a free drink?"

"Meh, you're okay," said Yang after pretending to look him over. "Just not my type, though."

"So why talk to me then? I'm just a custodian interested in killing some time here. I don't think I'm really bothering anyone by entertaining myself with watching a few fights."

 _Tell that to the guys who faced your adoring fans,_ thought Yang.

"Hmmm… I guess no reason really," said Yang. "Although, for a custodian, you seemed a little bit too serious with watching us fight."

"Just curious about those fancy weapons you all have," said Shirou calmly. "I just have a deep interest in them."

"Haha! Just like my sister, huh?" Yang seemed pleased by that. "Maybe I should get you two together to talk about them sometime. I'm sure she knows almost everything about them."

"Ruby Rose, right?"

Yang's smile froze. "How do you know that?"

The blonde sister didn't look it, but she was very protective of her young sibling. The thought of a man watching her so intensely with scrutinizing eyes did not elicit warm thoughts from her.

"She's friends with my little sister," simply stated Shirou, unaware of the change in his companion.

"Little sister?" Yang's frozen smile was replaced with a look of confusion. Her eyes looked at the white hair of the man before her, then the puzzle in her mind fell into place. "You're Illya's big brother!"

Shirou laughed as Yang backed away from him in surprise. "You don't have to be that surprised, you know? I know we don't really look alike, but so do you and your sister."

"Ah, well…" Yang shuffled her feet, embarrassed at her reaction. "I hadn't really seen you before, and she did tell us that you were the chef at the café. Didn't really think you'd show up here, of all places. Even working as a custodian too."

"I'm just working here part-time," informed Shirou. "I still work at the café on most days."

Yang took her place back on the railing. "What? I thought business seemed pretty good there?"

"We're doing quite well, but Sakura needs a bit more time with sharpening her cooking skills. I've recently gotten a boost in experience, so I thought she could use this chance to catch up."

"So you opted to work as a custodian?" said Yang, looking at him like he was crazy.

"Strange as it may seem, it does help me relax. And I'm not the type that can just laze around at home all day," chuckled Shirou. "Plus, I was serious when I said I was interested in seeing the weapons used here."

"You're a pretty weird guy, you know that?" smiled Yang.

"I get that a lot."

The two laughed together at that. They seemed to be enjoying each other's company while sharing drinks and telling stories.

"You think you can get me a discount when I eat at your place next time?" asked Yang jokingly.

"I'm not sure our manager would like that." Shirou could just imagine Rin's smiling visage at such a suggestion. It sent chills down his spine just thinking about it.

"How about just letting me borrow your little sister while I'm eating?" said Yang. "I can loan you my mine while yours keeps me company."

"You won't try and snuff her out this time, will you?"

"Oh… she told you about that, huh?" Yang laughed awkwardly.

"She did say a few things about you," admitted Shirou. Yang looking a little depressed at that. "It was actually the first time I've ever seen her talk so much about other people. She seemed really happy to meet you guys."

"What, really?" said Yang, perking up.

Shirou's attitude shifted slightly from his earlier merriment.

"She hasn't had much of a normal childhood to speak of," he admitted with a soft trace of sadness. "Let's just say our father wasn't able to bring her the life she deserved to live before he died. There were also certain family matters that complicated things more and had wedged a gap between us some time ago."

"Hmmm… sounds rough."

"Things are a lot better between us now," waived off Shirou. "She's got a new chance at life here, and I'm trying to make up for what my father failed to give her." He turned around to face Yang seriously. "And having friends like you around her really makes that possible. Thanks for that."

Yang scratched her cheek, a little embarrassed about that. "You don't have to thank me for it. She's a cute little kid. Hard not to want to be friends with her at all."

Yang's scroll rings, disturbing their conversation.

"Oh, that's my alarm. I gotta get to my next class before I'm late," said Yang.

Shirou removes himself from the railing. "I should get back to work too."

"Take it easy, okay?" Yang smiled while giving a small salute at him. "Also, you can add me as one of your friends too."

Shirou blinked blankly at that before returning a smile. "I still can't give you a discount, you now that, right?"

"Does the price of friendship cost so little now?" Yang said in mock disappointment.

"I'll see if I can get you some free desserts some time," replied Shirou.

"Now we're talking!" Yang gave him a thumbs up before running off to her next class.

She kind of reminded Shirou of his talks with Mitsuzuri. They were both certainly quite headstrong. He was happy getting another friend like her here.

"I guess being back in school, even just as a custodian, isn't all that bad," he said to himself.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I'm still working on that date with Rider. Maybe in the next several chapters or so.**

 **So I finished FHA. It certainly gave me a lot of background for more of the cast and their personalities. Although, I won't be using all of it as canon source. Mainly because some parts of it came off as too silly. I didn't know there was a stuffed animal store scene there too.**

 **As always, please read and review.** **It will help me if you can point out some mistakes in spelling, grammar and inconsistencies as well. Please do try to make constructive criticism rather than blatant dislike.**


	25. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

 **This is the 2nd version of the original chapter I made. The first one was a bit too light-hearted and was a bit more of a filler again. I thought since it's been a while since I updated, folks might want the plot to get moving. So I had to scrap the whole thing and remake it. Hope you guys enjoy!**

 **Also included that special date some people have been asking for.**

* * *

Rider caressed the smooth curves that glistened from the moonlit sky, her fingers tracing lightly over the surface, feeling every single part of the body down towards the rear. She bit her lip, trying to hold down the excitement of her beating heart. She felt the need to hold her breath, to savor the sensation coming from between her luscious thighs.

Every part, every inch, she took it all in.

"Shirou…" she said weakly. "This is…"

"I promised you, didn't I?" said the white-haired man. He had a satisfied smirk as he watched Rider unable to utter cohesive words about his actions. "Want to see how far we can go?"

Rider could only nod her head in answer.

A few miles down the road later, Rider and Shirou were both speedily driving past cars along the highway. The whir of their motorcycles squealed as they burned rubber at dangerous speeds, never once slowing down. Both were racing against each other with the intention of winning.

As one would have expected, this attracted the city police to the two speed devils. Sirens wailed as police car after police car entered the highway to give chase. Rider and Shirou didn't seem to care as they both twisted and evaded all the cars while they raced. None of the police cars were able to keep up with them.

Rider felt exhilarated by the whole thing. Underneath her helmet, she couldn't help but grin at the whole experience. To a Rider class servant like her, having to ride a vehicle at break neck speeds gave her such joy. Much more so that the bike she rode was designed to push past the limits of more conventional bikes.

A few miles ahead of them, there was a police blockading the highway. The police had given up on chasing after them and instead taken to blocking their path. There were many police cars behind them so they couldn't turn back. Well, they could, but Rider found the thought of slowing down to be distasteful after reaching their current speeds.

Rider glanced slightly back to her side to see Shirou sticking close to her on his own bike. She knew he could see her through his own helmet. He nodded once to her. He promised to follow her wherever she would go on this date of theirs. Satisfied, Rider turned her attention back at the police blockade ahead of them.

Rider sped up her bike even more so as they got closer, Shirou following closely. The police started to panic as they saw that they weren't slowing down at all. When some of the police had begun to dive away from the point of impact, Rider and Shirou diverted towards the barrier to the side, their bikes wheeled to a jump and sailing for a brief moment in the air, before landing safely at another highway intersecting below them.

Rider and Shirou continued to race whilst some of the police at the blockade gave huge sighs of relief. Before the police had even recovered, they had already lost sight of their targets.

It would be all over the news later that night about the intense motorcycle chase.

After arriving at their estate, Rider parked her bike at the garage. She had just taken her helmet off, causing her long hair to fall all the way down her back, when Shirou had arrived.

"I almost lost you there," he chuckled as he removed his own helmet. Rider's heart, which calmed down after the race, began to flutter once more at seeing him smile at her. "I take it you enjoyed our ride together?"

"Very," smiled Rider. "Though, you could have tried harder to keep up."

"Sorry we can't all have an A in their riding ability," sighed Shirou in mock sarcasm.

Rider stepped off the bike and moved several feet away to gaze at it. Even after looking at it so much in the beginning and riding it after, she still couldn't help but stare it once more. It satisfied her greatly to own something like it for herself.

"How were you able to acquire this?" she asked.

"Well, I was curious to know just how wide Roman's connections were," said Shirou slyly. "Turns out he knew more than a few people in all types of garages. Although I wasn't too sure about the less than legal modifications they've done on them, it seems to be needless worry when it comes to Servants using them."

"I'm glad for it." Rider moved closer to him, looking up at his eyes. It was nice to have him taller than her. She'd feel too conscious of herself if he was still shorter than her. "I'm not sure how I should show my appreciation…" she murmured seductively, inching just a little bit closer.

"I-It was a promise, after all!" stuttered Shirou, his face turning quite red.

"But you even gave me something to wear along with it." Rider unzipped her leather suit down just enough for her cleavage to show. "It fits me so well…"

Shirou gulped, turning away from her. He seemed on the verge of running away at any moment now.

"Shirou." Rider held his cheeks and turned his head to face her. "Thank you."

"Rider…" Shirou's relaxed a little at seeing the serious expression on her.

Rider pulled his head down and pressed her lips against his. She could feel his hands wrap around her waist, pulling her closer to his body. She wasn't sure if he would have pushed her away, but having him hold her like this now, she couldn't help but want more.

For who knows how long, their lips were locked to each other. It was a simple kiss, but Rider savored every moment of it. She could feel the warmth from his toned body seep into hers.

"Shirou…" Rider gasped after their lips parted, her eyes dazed and locked onto his. Her glasses had fogged up a little from the heat of their breaths. "Perhaps we should—"

"Shirou!"

Saber's voice rang outside the garage. It wasn't long before the King of Knights arrived to see both Shirou and Rider at a distance from one another, their faces still flushed. They had quickly separated after a quick panic at the sudden interruption, trying to look busily at anything else but each other.

"W-What is it, Saber?" asked Shirou.

While Shirou was busy inquiring about Saber's business, Rider could only sigh to herself in regret. It was too bad they were interrupted at that point. However, a smile still appeared on her face shortly after. Her fingers touched gently on her lips.

She could still feel the warmth and taste of his kiss.

As for Saber, she seemed to have found out about their motorcycle date. It would appear that they had been all over the news. Saber was quick to recognize the both of them. She adamantly complained about their behavior.

It wasn't for their recklessness, though.

She was entirely jealous of their mounts. She didn't leave them alone until Shirou had promised her that he would acquire one for her as soon as possible as well. By the time Sakura had called them for dinner, Saber and Rider had exchanged promises of a race between them once Saber's new bike arrived.

It would appear that the Vale police would soon have another legendary chase approaching on the horizon.

* * *

"So what's today's news?"

Cinder sat on her bed, legs crossed, and watched Emerald and Mercury. The two had just returned after checking on the current operations that they left the White Fang to manage.

"Everything is going smoothly with the plans at Mount Glen," said Emerald. "So far, so good I'd say. Although, the increased presence of the Atlesian forces have made it difficult to move. It's a bit slow going but we'll get there. Most of our plans for the big day are still on schedule."

"Most?" said Cinder, her eyebrow arched. "Define 'most.'"

"We've had a little bit of trouble acquiring some items on your wish list." Mercury scratched his head. "The security on those things are a lot tighter than we thought they would be, and as much as I'd hate to say it, we're kind of lacking that someone with precise skills and connections to take them."

Cinder frowned. Roman's defection, while not wholly unexpected from the lowlife, had served to detract more than a few of their plans. This was simply just one of those times that it had given them another hitch in their operations.

"Wait till I get my hands on that turncoat," said Emerald dangerously.

"In due time," said Cinder. "For now, we have better things to do, such as finding a solution to this problem of ours. We're going to need those Atlesian party favors for the end. I suppose we'll have to postpone taking them until after the dance."

"It'd be a lot easier once we have a bug on their systems," agreed Emerald.

"We might even be able find out more about what they know about who Roman works for," added Mercury. "I don't have high hopes for it, seeing as they haven't found much on us either, but who knows?"

That is certainly among the first things on the list Cinder would look for once she had access to the files. Whoever these people were, they knew well how to cover their tracks. She'd already made an inquiry into any groups or organizations that had recently made its way to Vale. There hadn't been any aside from themselves.

"Neo's on lookout watching the transports for any changes," said Emerald. "We'll be ready to move on them as soon as we've got access after the dance."

Mercury snorted.

"What?" frowned Emerald at him.

"Nothing," he said. "Just wondering how much we could trust that little shrimp, seeing as her own partner betrayed us so easily. I don't see why we're still going along with her."

"Because Roman betrayed her just as much he did us," answered Cinder easily. "Being in this line of work for so long, she knows what it means for him to betray people like us and leave her behind."

To leave her like that would mean that he wouldn't have cared at all what would have happened to her. Cinder and her people could just as easily have killed her out of spite for Roman's betrayal, even if they were sure that she had nothing to do with it. That's also the reason Cinder chose not to.

Revenge can be such a lovely incentive for someone's loyalty. As long as they were willing to let Neo make Roman pay for his betrayal, the little devil would quietly follow their orders obediently. Plus, losing any more resources would hamper their plans more than they can handle right now.

While not on Roman's level of work, Neo had still proved to be useful in providing them with information and connections they needed to work around Vale's authorities and the added Atlesian forces.

"If you're fine with it then," shrugged Mercury. "Not like I want to be on lookout anyway. I don't envy the guys stuck with her. The silence would kill me."

"It probably really would, huh?" Emerald rolled her eyes.

"I don't know about you two, but I'm looking forward to any information we get on our rivals," smiled Cinder. "This dance could prove to be quite entertaining indeed."

* * *

Junior hummed quite contently to himself as he wiped a glass from behind his bar. He found it quite soothing to clean glassware. Placing the glass on one of his shelves, he smiled at the sparkle they gave from a good wiping. His new business venture had given him more than enough money to buy new sets of higher quality glassware imported straight from Vacuo. His club and bar had also received a new makeover, replacing the thoroughly trashed furnishings with the best money could buy.

Who knew legitimate business could be so lucrative?

"Boss!"

Two of his subordinates came rushing through the club entrance, hurriedly closing the door behind them. They pressed themselves against the door.

"She's back!"

"Who's back?" Sweat ran down Junior's back. Only two women came to mind after he had given it some thought. Since they were already working with one of them…

Bang. The door rumbled behind his subordinates. A second later an even louder one soon followed, but this time the door blew open, sending his subordinates flying towards the dance floor.

"Guess who's back?!" Yang Xiao Long beamed widely at everyone in the club.

Junior's henchmen were quick to take out their guns and point it at her.

"Stop, stop!" Junior quickly tried to intervene. He was not going to have another fight break out of his newly renovated club. "Nobody shoot!"

He's already going to have to have the doors repaired again, he'd rather not add anything else to it. His insurance was going to rip him a new one if he were to file another claim so soon, not to mention they've already raised his premiums from last time. And people accuse him of extortion!

"Blondie!" Junior shoved his way to her. "You're here. Why?"

"You still owe me a drink." She dragged him all the way back to the bar.

Junior took out a glass and poured her a drink. He poured something a little bit stronger in his own glass, thinking he was going to need it.

"So…" he said, already pouring more in his glass after downing the first. "What do you want this time?"

Yang didn't answer him immediately, as she was examining the club. The ice cubes in her glass clinked and clanked as she swirled her drink while she observed.

"I like what you've done with the place," she said.

"Thanks in part to you," Junior sniped. "It helps to have premium insurance, but my rates are higher than ever."

"Well, it's going to go up higher if I don't get what I want."

"And what is it that you want, Blondie?" frowned Junior. "I've told you I don't know who that woman was. Nothing's changed since then."

"Not her." Yang took out three photos and placed them on the bar. "Know any of these three?"

Junior sighed and took a glance at them. He really hated his line of work sometimes. He was quick to go over the first two photos. The first was that of woman wearing armor like a knight. He didn't know a thing about her. The second was similarly another woman, though Junior had to raise an eyebrow at her getup. His eyes froze at the third photo.

"Sorry," he said, looking back at Yang. "Can't say I know them."

"Oh really?" Yang smirked at him.

Junior cursed to himself internally. She must've caught his split second reaction at the last photo. It was bad business to give away information about one's partners.

"It's kind of hard to believe that this is the second time you've got no information on people I'm looking for," she said, her eyes drilling into him. "I can't seem to believe that at all. Not after seeing that look on your face."

"Believe what you'd like, Blondie," dismissed Junior. "I'm telling you that I've got nothing to tell you on those pictures of yours, aside from maybe the second one in need of a wardrobe change. Just because I deal in information doesn't mean I know every single person in Vale. I thought I did, but I don't. And I don't wanna know. There are people out there that you're better off not knowing."

"Well, I want to know!" Yang slammed her hands on the bar, her eyes pulsing red. She grabbed Junior by his collar and pulled his face to her. "And you're going to tell me. Unless you want more than your club insurance to go out the window like last time."

Junior glared at her, gritting his teeth. He could tell Blondie was serious about this, but he knew well enough who'd be in real danger if he was to speak out. In addition, his dealings with Roman had been particularly lucrative for him. He could kiss all that legal money goodbye if he squealed.

"Alright…" he sighed in defeat. "I might know where you need to look…"

* * *

Yang's scroll rang. On the screen, she could see that her little sister was giving her a call.

She picked up and smiled at her sister's face popping on her screen.

"Yo! What's up, Sis?"

"Hey Yang!" greeted Ruby. "Was wondering where you were? We're about to start teaching Weiss your favorite board game! Thought you might want in on the action."

"You bet I would!" said Yang. "Oh… but not tonight, Ruby. Sorry. I've got other plans right now."

"Oh, okay…" Ruby looked slightly disappointed but still nodded anyway. "We'll just catch another game tomorrow or some other time. Have fun with your plans tonight, then!"

Yang sighed after hanging up. She felt really bad for turning Ruby down. Also really disappointed that she couldn't be there to see Weiss try to make sense of her favorite board game.

She hadn't told anyone what she was up to. Those women they fought were strong. That was why she could only follow on leads for now and maybe get a clue on who they were dealing with. She didn't think it would really make much of a difference if she was by herself or with her classmates, so she chose not to involve them for now.

"Sorry, Rubes. I've got a really important blind date tonight." She strapped on her helmet, saddled her bike, and throttled the engine. "I'll be sure to treat you when I get back."

Yang rode off, leaving Junior Xiong's club behind her. It looked like visiting him had actually paid off this time.

* * *

"You know it could've been a lot cheaper if you told me to buy three in the first place, right?"

Roman leaned on the wall of the garage as he watched Shirou examine the newly delivered motorcycle. He didn't really care much at all about the spending habits of others, but his boss literally breathed down his neck whenever he read the expenditures of their operations. And here he thought he loved money.

"Sorry for the trouble," said Shirou. "It didn't really occur to me that Saber would get so jealous."

"Really now? You didn't think giving a girl gifts would make your other girl jealous?" Roman said with as much sarcasm as possible. "I'd be thinking of what other things to give your other ladies if I were you."

"Oh, I'm sure they're fine with it," smiled Shirou. "They're pretty mature."

"You sure about that?"

After seeing the look Roman gave him, Shirou seemed to give it a bit more thought.

"…Maybe I should buy some presents in advance," he finally said. "You know, just in case."

"Better." Roman gave him a pat on the back. "Just remember to get the little missy something as well. I really don't want to be around her whenever she gets… uh, agitated."

A series of rings resounded in the garage. It seemed to be coming from Roman's coat pocket.

"Oh, that's mine," Roman took out his scroll and answered it. The scroll was on audio only since he wanted to make sure none of his contacts know more than they should. "Y'ellow? Need something, Junior? Someone what?"

He went silent as Junior continued to talk to him over the phone.

"Is that so?" said Roman after getting a grasp of the situation. "Well, I guess it's a good thing you handled it then. No. No, it's not going to affect the usual business. I'll keep away for the time being, but I'll have someone else handle things there. You put her off the trail anyway. I doubt she'll think of getting back to you on it. She'll have plenty of other things to think about if she's going where she's headed. Best case scenario is she doesn't get back from it at all."

Roman said goodbye and hung up.

"What was that about?" asked Shirou curiously.

"Almost had a bit of a problem with someone nosing around Junior's place." He saw Shirou frown uneasily. He knew that these people he worked for were very sensitive about their secrets. Not like anyone would believe in magic nowadays anyway.

"What happened?"

"No worries," said Roman. "Junior sent her on someone else's trail. She won't find much of anything about us. She's someone else's problem now." He had a sadistic grin on his face as he thought of throwing another wrench in Cinder's plans. "Honestly, nosy kids are good at making headaches for people."

"Kids?" said Shirou.

"Yeah," nodded Roman. "A student from Beacon. One of the ones who kept getting in our way."

"What?!"

"Woah! Easy there!" Roman backed off from Shirou. He could tell he was not happy about this news.

"What did you mean that the best case scenario was she doesn't get back at all?" he asked, his voice grave.

"Well, Junior sent her off to a place he knew a bunch of White Fang members had been hanging around recently," quickly answered Roman. "Thought it'd be nice if they could get rid of her for us. One less nosy kid to worry about and all that."

"Dammit!" Shirou went on Saber's bike and turned it on. "Where did he send her?"

"Hey, you're not seriously thinking of going there, are you?!" shouted Roman over the loudness of the bike. "She's not our problem!"

"Just tell me where she is," said Shirou impatiently.

Roman cursed the goody two-shoes in front of him. He still had to tell him where, though. The contract he had signed did not allow him to leave information demanded of him from any of his boss' party.

The motorcycle rocketed out of the garage, the tires squealing and making skid marks on the floor. Roman had to hold down to his hat as the bike went past him.

"Damn wannabe heroes!" cursed Roman. "You can't save everyone!"

* * *

Yang parked her bike on the curb of the street. She stood just outside of a tall abandoned building. It was overlooking the train depot just across from where she was. Junior hadn't told her much about the women she and her classmates had encountered, but he did mention that the White Fang might know more than he did. He also added that some of his sources had apparently found them gathered at this location for reasons unknown to them.

"Time to get some answers." Yang knocked her fists together.

As per her usual routine with doors that keep blocking her way from whatever it is she wanted, she used Ember Celica to blast them open. The door was apparently ill maintained, being part of an abandoned building and all, the hinges unable to hold the door in place. When Yang had entered the building, the door had flown and hit a White Fang member, knocking him unconscious.

"Knock knock!"

Chaos soon ensued as Yang just pummeled her way through goon after goon that tried to attack her. It was surprisingly easy. There were a lot less people here than at Junior's place.

Yang was just about to clobber one goon in the face when she heard the elevator ding. She saw a girl she hadn't noticed until now enter it, slinging her umbrella to her shoulder. Her heterochromatic eyes stared at her. She gave Yang a playful smirk just before the elevator doors closed.

"At least I know who to ask now," said Yang. She threw the White Fang member at another of his compatriots who had just begun to stir from the ground, knocking both out.

Yang noticed that the elevator had stopped at the rooftop. She followed using the other nearby elevator, patiently waiting until it came to a stop at her destination.

"Hey shortstuff!" Yang shouted as soon as the elevator doors opened. She stepped out to a windy and cloudy night sky. "I promise to be gentle if you just tell me what I wanna know!"

Quickly turning she shot out a round from her bracers at something coming at her from behind. Sitting on top of the elevators, Neo was tossing a piece of crumpled paper ball up and down in her hand. She still had that playful grin on her face.

Yang fired a shot at her.

"I don't like getting played around with," snarled Yang, seeing Neo dodge easily and landing just right in front of her. "Not a good night for games."

Yang immediately went in to close the gap between them. She was serious about this. So it came as a surprise to her when she found her opponent evaded her blows so easily, moving just a few inches from her attacks.

Neo hooked Yang by her neck with the umbrella she carried on one hand whilst spinning behind her back, sending Yang's momentum toward a brick wall.

"Dammit!" cursed Yang as she once again turned to face the short girl. "You are really getting on my nerves. Hold still so I can beat some answers out of you!"

Yang continued to assault the shorter girl, punching and shooting her bracers. She was letting her frustrations get the best of her. She used to think that she was strong, but having faced another opponent that she could barely hit… her rage was getting peaked.

Neo kept backing away from her until she finally stopped. The short girl landed deftly on the ledge of the building. There was no room for her to back away now.

Yang smiled as she finally cornered the agile girl. Neo appeared to realize this as she looked back behind her over the edge then back at Yang.

"I've got you know!" Yang threw her fist at Neo's surprised face. A strange crack appeared where her fist landed. "What?!"

Neo's image shattered like the breaking of glass. Yang perilously tried to regain her balance as her momentum almost sent her off the ledge. She stood on her heels trying to back away, but she felt the tip of something push her forward.

Yang fell.

She was able to turn around just in time to see that wicked smirk of Neo, pulling up the tip of her umbrella. She tried to fire at least just one more shot at her, but a click from her bracers indicated she had spent all her ammo.

All she could do was fall…

Neo stood there on that ledge and watched. She was surprised when she heard the ding of the elevator. When she turned around to see the doors wide open, a red blur had suddenly ran past her.

Meanwhile, as Yang descended, the blonde fighter tried to reload her Ember Celica. The rushing winds made it difficult on her.

"I can do this, I can do this!" she said through gritted teeth as she finally managed to get a grip on a belt of ammo. A strong gust blew at her and caused her to lose her grip. "No!"

Yang's could see the ground getting closer. She had no more time left. Her whole life flashed before her. Memories of her dad, her wayward mom, Ruby… So many of them passed her by as she fell. There were so many… but they felt so short.

Her latest memory came to her.

"…I'm so sorry, Ruby." Her sister expected to come home tonight. Blake and Weiss would, too. Her friends—she didn't want to leave any of them behind.

Her heart seized as the fear of death gripped it.

She closed her eyes and looked away.

"Please! Save me!" she cried out with all her might. "I don't want to die!"

Her eyes still closed, she couldn't help but feel for the inevitable. After a second or two, she still couldn't feel it. Strangely, all she felt was a sudden weightlessness and something else.

She opened her eyes, only to see a pair of gentle steel grey eyes watching her. They belonged to a man with red cloth covering his entire head. He held her in his arms like a knight carrying his princess. Only his eyes were visible. His arms held her firmly and securely close to him.

Gone were her thoughts of death. All she could do was stare into those steely eyes.

So lost was she in her thoughts that she hadn't realized that they had finally reached the ground safely. He dropped her with care, standing back briefly to examine her, uttering not a single word. After giving a single nod, he left her.

"W-Wait!" Yang shouted, but the man was long gone.

She stood dazed for a minute, staring to where he had run off. Her legs seemed to have finally given out, the near death experience having caught up.

"…I'm alive, right?" She couldn't believe it. "I was saved?"

She started to laugh. The whole thing was just surreal. She had almost died if not for that mysterious man.

Her laughter started breaking into broken sobs. She couldn't stop the tears from coming. She'd be able to return home to Beacon. To see Ruby.

Yang's scroll rang. She could see that it was her sister calling.

"…What's up?" she answered, rubbing her tears away. She'd pick up with only the audio so her sister wouldn't see her in her current state.

"Yang?" Ruby's voice seemed concerned. "Are you okay? Your voice sounds strange."

"Yep!" Yang said energetically. "Totally fine! Just had a really strong drink that was hard to swallow."

"Yang! You know dad said not to go overboard with trying alcohol yet! He gets really worried we'd end up like uncle Qrow." Just the sound of her voice caused Yang to beam. She was just so happy to hear it. "Anyway, are you coming home soon? I still have some cookies leftover for a midnight snack if you want some?"

"Sure. I could use something to eat." Everything about that just sounded wonderful to her. "I'm coming home…"

"…Yang?" said Ruby. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Don't worry, Rubes. I'll be there to kiss you goodnight."

"Ugh! You haven't done that since we were kids!"

"But you are still just a kid."

Yang could imagine Ruby pouting over the scroll.

"Fine…" said her sister reluctantly. "Just this one time, okay?"

Her sister gave up quite easily. Seemed like she didn't completely believe her that everything was okay.

"See you soon, Ruby."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **There are quite a few reasons why it took me so long to update, but the primary reason would have to be because I find it hard to work with a still continuing series. I am unsure if I should just end this whole story with volume 3 or just build on it as it goes. So, I do what I usually do with hard things like this, and that is to procrastinate.**

 **Also, I'm trying to get better with my writing still. I've read a few things here and there, and what I've found is that there are reaaally a lot of styles when it comes to writing. There are detailed stories that visualize so well and paints the world, but then there are stories with few that are even more wonderful. It's a hard thing to keep track of. Some stories are even told simply through dialogue with little description and they still turn out great. I'm guessing that content is really what truly matters in a good story.**

 **I'll be a lot busier with life this year, so I at least wanted to update this. Happy Chinese New Year!**

 **As always, please read and review.**


	26. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.**

* * *

On a warm moonlit night, a beautiful young girl with white hair gazes at the starry sky from a balcony. Her chin resting on her hand, she continued to stare, her thoughts wandering.

"Hey, Weiss."

Blake stood just outside the dorm's balcony doors.

"Mind if I join you?" she said.

"…Oh, sure." Weiss took a moment longer to answer as she had many things occupying her mind this night. "Do what you like. It's not like I own the dorm."

Blake took the spot near her. She closed her eyes and brushed away her stray hair that had been swept up by a passing breeze. It was a good, peaceful night.

"…You okay?" asked Blake after a minute of silence.

"Why wouldn't I be?" answered Weiss.

"Well…"

The faunus had been passing by earlier when she had chanced upon a rather daring and private confession. Jaune had apparently done the whole song and dance number in order to ask Weiss out to the school dance with him. She heard the entire routine pretty well.

"So you must've heard that, huh?" Weiss smiled. "It got a little bit embarrassing towards the end, but I think he did his best. I'm just glad nobody else was around to hear it."

Blake blinked blankly at her.

"What?" scoffed Weiss.

"Nothing." Blake shook her head. "Well, not nothing… It's just that I would have never— I mean—!"

"I know, I know." Weiss rolled her eyes. "I'm the 'Ice Queen' and all that. You were probably expecting a lot more from me than a polite rejection, right?"

"Uh…" Blake didn't answer, but that was all the answer that was needed.

Weiss had earned that nickname after all. No one in the entire school would mistake anyone else for it. Heck, even some of the people in Vale know about it.

"…I thought it was nice of you to let him down easy," said Blake.

"A bumbling buffoon that he is, he is still a friend of ours," sighed Weiss. "While it's not exactly how I pictured it when I came here, I still have learned to grow in my own way, you know?"

"Right." Blake could clearly understand that the incident with her running away is still probably fresh on her mind. While it had been a rather tumultuous experience, she was glad that they all came out the better for it.

Weiss Schnee befriending a faunus. A former member of the White Fang, no less. Not exactly as Blake would have pictured it herself when she first came here.

"Does that mean someone's already asked you out to the dance?" said Blake.

"No."

"Huh?"

"No one else had asked me to the dance," repeated Weiss, looking nonplussed. "Aside from the buffoon, there hasn't been a single one to ask me to the dance. At least there was one guy in this entire school that had the nerve to try and ask me out, even if it's probably because he's way too dense. "

"Then why did you turn him down?"

Weiss raised an eyebrow at the faunus. "I said I learned to be better, not become a saint. I'm not going out with a…" She seemed to have realized the venom that was close to come out of her mouth, biting down back on it. " _Charming_ boy of… uhh, unique personality."

"Pfft." Blake couldn't help letting out a snort at her attempt at civility. She was really bad at it, but at least she was trying. "I know, I know. Learning to be better. You don't have to frown so much at me. So what are you going to do about the dance then?"

"Nothing," said Weiss with disinterest. "I'll probably just go alone. I don't really find that idea as displeasing as I thought I would. It's not like I'll be the only girl without a partner to the dance. I mean even Ruby is going without a dance partner."

"Ruby?" said Blake. "But she does have one."

Weiss almost stumbled as she turned too quickly at the comment.

"Ruby?!" she repeated, getting up close to Blake. "Ruby Rose?! She has a partner to the dance?!"

"…Yes?" Blake had to take a step back as the Ice Queen drew much too close to her. "She told me she asked someone yesterday."

"She was the one who asked?"

"Y-Yeah!" Blake was uneasy as Weiss had gripped her tightly by the shoulders.

"…Who is it?"

Blake felt chills at the frost of her voice. "I… don't know. I only found out about it a while ago. Why do you care?"

"I-I don't!" Weiss let her go, much to her relief. "Just a little… curious. I mean, it's Ruby after all."

"And there's the 'Ice Queen,'" sighed Blake. She was doing just fine a while ago too. "I know she's not the popular type like you and Yang, but she is still a cute girl, you know? It's not that hard to imagine that someone might've taken an interest in her."

"I… suppose she is…" Weiss conceded as her image of Ruby seemed to glow in her memories for some reason she could not fathom. "Her smile does make her pretty…"

"What?"

"Uh, nothing!" shouted Weiss. "I just said that the tiles here are all so messy! Why aren't they cleaning it thoroughly?"

"Well, it is an outside balcony?" Blake tilted her head at the sudden off topic. "Anyway, we should probably head back. It's getting pretty late."

"Yeah…"

"Not coming with?" asked Blake as she waited by the door.

"You go on ahead," said Weiss. "I think I still need to clear my head."

"Okay, but don't take too long. It's probably going get colder soon. You don't want to miss the school dance because you got sick."

"Thanks."

Blake left, leaving Weiss all alone once again to stare at the bright shining, shattered moon above her head. She stayed there for just a bit longer. Her thoughts going back to Ruby and the dance.

"I wonder what she's going to wear?" Weiss asked herself. If it's Ruby, she could somehow picture her wearing combat boots just because they would be easier to move when dancing. The idea of it brought a smile to her face. "Maybe she'll bring Crescent Rose as her partner?"

That smile she quickly vanished. Ruby had asked someone to the dance with her.

"Blake was right. I might be feeling a little sick." Weiss decided that the feeling she felt was probably due to the weather and unrelated to Ruby in any way. She left to go to sleep back in her bed, not noticing that the tightness in her chest was anything else.

She got back to their room, finding everyone was already asleep. It looked like Ruby had been too tired to climb up to her bed once again, as she was on Weiss' bed.

Weiss sighed. This was the reason why she wanted the bottom bunk. It made it so much easier to get in and out of bed.

She was about to wake Ruby and make her complaints known, but she changed her mind when she saw how peaceful Ruby slept.

"Really, how could anyone think of going to the dance with you?" Weiss adjusted the blanket haphazardly covering their dear leader. She stared at Ruby's face for several minutes before climbing up to Ruby's bed.

She had thought she would have trouble sleeping that night due to how troubled her mind was over matters she herself did not quite understand, but somehow, Ruby's pillow felt really nice on her head. The scent of her sheets made her feel so relaxed and her blanket felt warm over her.

As she drifted to sleep, she reminded herself to ask Ruby where she bought them. No wonder she could sleep so quickly.

* * *

Yang wondered who he was. That question had bothered her since that night. She couldn't get it out of her mind. He came at just the right moment to save her.

Just like a superhero.

That couldn't be it, right? But then, how did he show up just in the nick of time? Was he just passing by and seen her falling? That seems much too coincidental.

Well, there was also the idea that he'd been watching her the entire time. That was a lot more probable to her. There was no telling how long he'd been observing her. Since she came from Junior's club or possibly even longer before that?

The idea of someone stalking her like that should have creeped her out, but somehow, she just felt her face flush at the thought of those steel grey eyes watching her every move. Could he be watching her right now? Was he somehow observing her without her knowing?

Could she maybe—?

"Miss Xiao Long!"

"Huh?" Yang looked up to see a very displeased Professor Goodwitch glaring down at her. The rest of the class snickered and giggled at the dumbfounded expression she was giving the professor.

"I take it then that you had not heard me the first three times I called you?"

"Y-Yes, Ma'am! I mean—no, Ma'am!" Students snickered at her panicked reaction. Yang had finally realized that she was in the middle of class.

"Very well," said the professor, calmly adjusting the bridge of her glasses. "Seeing as you seem so out of it, how about I give you some exercise to wake you?" She took out her tablet and the combat screen in the practice arena came to life. "I was planning on having Miss Nikos do a demonstration, but it appears you would be better suit for it. The demonstration will be about solo versus team combat. For this lesson, you'll be fighting…" She made a series of clicks on her tablet before a Team appeared on the screen. "Team CRDL."

Team CRDL seemed hyped as they hooted and jumped down onto the combat ring of the room. They most likely thought this was going to be an easy match, and therefore, an easy grade for them. Their grades weren't very good, so they'll take what they can to raise it even just a little bit. Even if it means fighting an unfair match up.

Too bad for them that Yang hadn't been idle in her skills as she was in her studies in classes. She was one of the most serious in honing her skills among the teams ever since they lost so badly.

"Why not?" grinned Yang, cracking her knuckles. She could use a warm up to shake her thoughts out of the way. It wasn't her style to think about things too deeply anyway. It's been a while since she gave anyone a good beating.

She was quick to jump down, ready for a good fight.

"Break a leg, Yang!" shouted her sister from the seats. "I mean that as a form of expression, though!"

"Don't worry," she answered, bumping her fists in anticipation. "I'll try not to. Maybe just their faces, though?"

Now, the fight pretty much went as expected. As in, it was a one way beat down of the Team CRDL. They had gone in with an almost carefree attitude, assuming that one girl isn't going to give them much trouble. After giving Cardin, the leader of the team, a floor-cracking suplex, they made the already late decision to take things a little more seriously.

The battle ended when Yang put a ground pound through Russel and down into the rest of the pile of his team, knocking them all out. Professor Goodwitch called the results of the match. She seemed to have finally gotten over Yang's earlier conduct and was now smiling.

"Well done, Miss Xiao Long," she said. "It seems you'll have no problems at least with the practical side of my class, but still, I expect to have your full attention when I am in front of you."

"Yes, Ma'am," smiled Yang apologetically.

"Good," nodded the professor. "Now, we have time for one more sparring match. Do I have any volunteers?"

She waited as she looked for any signs from students to do so. If no one wanted to volunteer, she would have to choose someone herself.

"I'll do it." A hand raised up from a pale, gray haired student. The professor seemed to recall that he was one of the foreign students that had come for the Vytal Festival.

"Mercury, is it? Very well. Let's find you an opponent."

"Actually, I wanna fight her." He pointed at Yang.

Professor Goodwitch frowned. "I'm afraid Miss Xiao Long has just finished a match, I'd recommend you choose another partner."

"I'm fine with it," said Yang, looking at Mercury's smirking face. "I just got warmed up anyway."

She hadn't even broken a sweat against Cardin's team. Plus, it was good opportunity for her to see just how good the visiting students were. There was also the feeling that she just wanted to punch the guy's face for some reason.

With no further complaints, the two students took to the ring, readying their combat stances.

"Let's take this slow, shall we?" said Mercury.

Yang immediately charged at him, sending a punch right at his head that he narrowly dodged, but could only block a kick to his stomach with his arms. Even though he blocked it, he got pushed back by several feet from the force of it.

"Now where's the fun in that?" smirked Yang at him. She didn't give him time to respond as she pressed her attack. Her fists were fast as she threw them his way. Mercury kept backing off trying to dodge them.

"Pretty good," said Mercury. He sent a high kick towards Yang's chin that she deftly avoided, before flipping on his hands and rotating his legs outwards that made her break away to avoid it. "Still better than you, though."

Yang closed in once again, pressuring him as he now blocked with his legs at each of her strikes. As he raised one leg to block a blow, she twisted her body and delivered a low spin kick that tripped him on his back.

"Is that a fact?" said Yang smugly.

"I suppose… it's debatable," groaned Mercury, picking himself up on his feet. He supposed that his little bit of fun was enough. He could feel Emerald frowning at him from his back.

"Giving up?" said Yang, just as he was about to. "I can tell you want to."

Mercury looked at her watching him with such surety. He could usually take insults like water off a duck's back, but right now?

He leveled his legs, readying for another clash.

"I was gonna say that I was just getting warmed up." What she said reminded him of his dad. So now, he needed to release some pent up aggression. Emerald can just sit tight until he was finished. It's not like winning in class would mess up any of their plans.

The match continued with Yang and Mercury exchanging blow for blow, with no one getting the upper over the other for too long. Yang used her fists, while Mercury used his legs. The fight would have lasted longer if Professor Goodwitch hadn't had to end it before either side won. Class time was over, so she had to declare the match a draw due to them having the same amount of aura left.

There was some applause from the class. Everyone thought it was a good fight.

…Well, almost everyone.

"Cinder told us not to stand out," whispered Emerald unhappily as Mercury returned to her side. "You should have just given up."

"You're right," said Mercury. "I probably should have. It's just that… I really didn't want to. I wanted to wipe that smug smile off her face."

As they both left the class, Professor Goodwitch still had some words for Yang.

"I trust you will remember to be attentive next class, Miss Xiao Long," Professor Goodwitch scolded. "On that note, perhaps I should give you some advice if you are struggling with staying awake in class?"

About a full five minutes worth of parting words. Professor Goodwitch really didn't appreciate being ignored. It was great that the class was the very last one of the day.

"Oh, man…" sighed Yang after leaving the lecture hall. "The professor really gave it to me there."

"Not surprising," said Blake, walking beside her and the rest of their team. "You were really out of it. I thought for sure she was going to take out her riding crop. It's not like you to daydream in Professor Goodwitch's class."

"What _were_ you daydreaming about?" asked Ruby.

"N-Nothing," chuckled Yang nervously.

"Really?" Ruby eyed her suspiciously. "Reaaaaallly?"

"I was just… thinking of the school dance coming up!" Yang quickly found an excuse. "Yup," she nodded. "I was thinking what sort of music they'll have lined up. Nothing important really."

"Oh, that's right!" nodded Ruby. The dance was already coming up soon, so she had to think about preparations as well. "I also wanted to know what kind of music they had to dance to. I gotta practice and don't want to embarrass myself. Thanks for reminding me, Yang. I have to go find the DJ and ask him about it. I'll see you guys later."

Ruby waved a quick goodbye and raced down the hallways. It didn't creep into her mind that she had no idea where or who the DJ was. She'll probably meet up with them sooner rather than later to ask them.

"She's pretty excited," said Yang, secretly breathing a sigh of relief. "I guess getting a date for the dance really motivated her."

"S-Speaking of," stuttered Weiss, "You wouldn't happen to know who her date is, would you?"

"I don't know," shrugged Yang. "She just said she found someone to go to the dance with her. I was… uh, a bit tired from my night out to really get into asking her about it."

"Why are you so interested?" said Blake, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you said you didn't mind not having a partner to the dance."

"O-Of course I don't!" huffed Weiss. "I… just want to make sure that since Ruby is the leader of our team that she doesn't ask someone that might embarrass us. For the good of the team."

"Hmm…" Blake didn't seem so sure.

"You know you could always just ask her yourself, right?" stated Yang.

"That's…!" Weiss had her mouth open, but there were no words coming out of it. She couldn't seem to find a reason not to. Although, she felt like she wouldn't be able to handle it so well if she did ask Ruby.

Weiss herself couldn't really explain it. Just a few days ago she didn't even care much if someone asked her to the dance or not. But now? Ever since she found out Ruby had a partner at the dance, she couldn't stop thinking about it. She really wanted to know who it was. She also felt frustrated that… that…

"You could always ask for a dance," said Blake.

"What…?"

"You know, ask Ruby's partner for a dance to get to know them. It's not like people can dance only exclusively with their partners. I mean, even Yang said she wanted to show me how to dance after I'm done with Sun."

"Oh!" Weiss said. "That's right! I could just ask Ruby for a dance."

"Uh… you mean with her partner?"

"Right," nodded Weiss enthusiastically. "Isn't that what I said?"

Blake and Yang both looked a little confused, sharing a look with one another as if asking each other if they misheard.

"I'm really looking forward to it," said Weiss. "Oh, but I haven't picked out a dress yet! The dance is practically just around the corner! I have to make some calls. I'll see you guys back at the dorm."

She rushed off from the two, scroll already out and on her hand as she dialed numbers on it. Yang and Blake could hear her asking about dress styles and sizes.

* * *

Professor Goodwitch watched as the last of her students left. Although she had been irritated by them at most times, she still found it greatly satisfying to see them grow before her eyes. She firmly believed in Ozpin's view that the children are their future.

Now if only they could dial back on their destruction.

She sighed as she surveyed the damage to the class combat ring from the fight between Yang and Mercury.

"Would you like me to start cleaning up?"

Professor Goodwitch looked up to see their new custodian jumping down from the elevated seats of the room. It would seem that he had once again visited and observed during today's class. If he had been a student of hers, she would have been proud of his diligence.

"No need," smiled the professor. "If I'm here, I see no need to trouble you over something I can finish much faster." Taking out her riding crop, she waved it and pointed it at the destruction around the room, causing the rubble and craters to slowly fill back into their original condition.

"Oh?" exclaimed the custodian. "That's certainly a useful ability. I can imagine that would make my work much easier if I could do the same."

"I am not so sure if it isn't more of a curse," sighed Glynda. She sometimes wondered if she was the reason why students thought so little in regard for their wanton disregard for furniture and property. There wasn't a day where she didn't need to be called for to help with repairs. "Were you here watching class again, Mr. Emiya? I hadn't noticed you."

He nodded. "I had been told that my presence was a bit distracting, so I hid myself until after classes had started."

"I see," chuckled the professor. "Well, I for one, thought your presence helped motivate my students during classes. Goodness knows that Miss Xiao Long could have used it in class today."

"She seemed lively enough."

"Well, I wouldn't say she was at peak performance." Professor Goodwitch could tell that the girl had other things in mind. "She is usually quite attentive when it comes to combat classes, but she seemed quite distracted today. Although, I can't reprimand her so much about it, seeing as that she seemed to have improved her combat skills. She and some of the other students are much more motivated than before in their training."

She supposed that their earlier experience of fighting opponents much stronger than them had helped in that. Being so young, a lot of them probably thought they were invincible and could take on the world with will alone. Having to face a seemingly insurmountable wall had greatly affected that lax view of the world.

"It isn't a bad thing," said Shirou. "To become stronger."

"I just hope to teach them what I can until they grow up," said Glynda. "I look forward to seeing them become first rate Huntsmen and Huntresses. Although, the headmaster seem to think that they will one day save the world."

"Saving the world, huh?"

Professor Goodwitch was confused. There was a hint of coldness that seemed entirely out of place in his voice just then. She could hear his knuckles tighten.

"I wonder… does he really know what that means?" he said, turning his back on her so that she couldn't see his face. "After all… the fighting never stops."

"Mr. Emiya…?"

"I should be getting back to work," he said abruptly. "It was nice chatting with you professor. The students are lucky to have you as their educator."

Professor Goodwitch saw him go. She found him to be an agreeable man. Yet, it was only now that she wondered about who he really was. That change in his voice had been vastly different. It was heavy with the weight of understanding. Something that only those with experience could have.

If only she knew how much experience he had… saving the world, that is.

* * *

"So this makes the third spot we've secured," said Rin.

She looked at the map of the city of Vale laid out on her desk. There were various pins and markers of different colors place all over it.

"The purchase price so far haven't been that expensive since we started with the areas located at the outer edges of the city," said Roman who stood in front of her. He checked his scroll on the information they've gathered. "The other locations won't be as cheap. Also, a few might be more of a problem than simply throwing money at them."

For their project to succeed, it was necessary that they secure all the locations. Even failing to get a single one would turn all they have worked for useless. It was a difficult problem.

"You don't have to worry about that part," said Rin. "I've got that handled. Concentrate on acquiring the rest of the locations. While I encourage you— _encourage_ you to avoid spending too much, if you can get them through legal means, then you can…" She found it difficult to get out the words. "…spend as much as needed…"

"You know, it would be faster and cheaper if you could—"

"We're not going to do anything illegal," snapped Rin.

"You understand that we are wanted terrorists, right?" said Roman. "I doubt something like real estate fraud is going to make much of a difference."

"I know," said Rin in irritation. She knew that. After all, she made the same arguments already before. She had been sorely tempted by the idea more than once. Shirou and Sakura were both adamant about their thoughts about it.

"It's not like we're in a rush anyway," said Tukson. He stood beside Roman as he too had been involved with acquiring some of the areas.

There was no immediate need to setup the bounded field so soon. They were actually way ahead of schedule with how quickly they made progress with it. All the materials had been acquired and Rin and Illya are almost done with the calculations for the spell.

Encasing the entire city in the field was possible thanks in part to the amount of ambient mana found in this world. The Dust crystals also proved to be an excellent and efficient battery source for starting and maintaining it without it burning through the ambient mana faster than it could be replenished.

Rin sighed. "You're right. It's not like this city is danger of getting attacked at any moment. Even if it did, I doubt those Grimm would be enough to go through all the hunters and soldiers here."

"I guess it's fine if I take it easy then?" smiled Roman. "Nothing wrong with relaxing a bit until the papers go through anyway."

Everything had been going smoothly with all the business and stuff lately, so Roman had been having more and more time to himself. With all the legal paperwork awaiting approval from the ever slow process of government bureaucracy, there wasn't a lot he could do but sit and wait.

"You have that much free time, do you?"

A chill ran up Roman's back. He could see his boss smiling at him. He knew what that meant. It was the same smile she had when he signed his soul away.

"That's great," she continued to smile. "And here I was working two jobs and at home every single day. It must be nice to be able to sit back and relax."

"I-It's not all that great…" mumbled Roman weakly.

"Ah, maybe you can help me with something since you have plenty of time now, right?"

Roman blanched.

"I was wondering where I was going to get a live subje—volunteer for a little test of mine."

"Oh! I forgot about that really important email I got about those lease agreements! Let me just—" Roman found himself held up by two burly arms, unable to make his quick getaway.

"Should've kept your mouth shut," whispered Tukson. Rin had signaled him to make sure he didn't escape.

"Let's go to my workshop, shall we?" said Rin as she stood up from her desk. "I'm really thankful for you helping me out here. I'd ask the others but everyone is so busy. It's great that you have so much free time."

The faunus in the house watched as Tukson carried a struggling Roman in his arms whilst following a very pleased Rin. The gentleman criminal begged them for help, but they could only look at him in pity, sending prayers his way. They'd heard Rin's murmurings to herself about finding a volunteer during breakfast. With Roman taking the role, they could breathe a little easier about it.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **So the next chapter is going to be the school dance. I'm hoping I can make it work well with the plot I have planned. If not, then I'll probably modify it. Things are different when you put them into writing.**

 **As always, please read and review.**


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